Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

L'arbre du mal by Tana French

24 reviews

birdsandships's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

thesaggingbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was difficult for me to rate. The writing was great as usual and the characters were well developed but it dragged on and on for no real reason. Just because you’re a stellar writer doesn’t mean you need to use all the words!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Violence, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Terminal illness, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

The book covered a lot of sensitive topics but i didn’t feel like it was gratuitous in explanations or details.

te_ss_i's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

allynat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, and Alcohol

wizcarlyfuh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

seadeepy's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

cfell's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Self harm

jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Thanks, I hated it.

Let me start with the one redeeming quality of this book, Tana French can write a damn house! Just like the home in The Likeness, I could picture the Ivy House perfectly! It was cozy (until it wasn’t) and atmospheric and just so vibrantly written. 

But that skill is not enough to save this book. Not only is every single character (except Hugo, whom I felt affection for and wanted to see more of) unlikeable, but our protagonist is the *most* unlikeable of the bunch. Seriously. Irredeemably so. I guessed the killer prior to the reveal, but that’s not saying a whole lot as this book is SLOW. And lastly, though frankly most importantly, this book is ableist and fatphobic as FUCK. Like, jarringly so. I felt like I was constantly being pulled out of the story because I was taken aback by the ableist comments. Bad bad bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia

zalouis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence