Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

12 reviews

thebookaddict's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Aw bruna bedankt voor dit recensie-exemplaar.  Wat een duister boek. Dit boek houdt je tot het einde gevangen. Er gebeurt een hele hoop en het boek blijft je verbazen. Je volgt twee verhaallijnen en het boek springt over tussen heden en verleden. Dit wordt op een hele fijne manier gedaan. Het boek bevat veel heftige thema's en is niet voor iedereen geschikt. Ik vond het een heel spannend en interessant verhaal, maar er zaten niet zoveel plots in. Het einde verliep ook net iets te snel. Ik had wel iets meer geheimzinnigheid willen zien als het om S. Gaat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

astoriareader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SYNOPSIS

• Sally can’t remember anything before her 7th birthday. She was adopted by a couple, and she doesn’t recall life before them.
• Sally is in her 40s now, and her father recently passed from cancer. Her mother had died some time ago. Sally has always been a loner, and she has struggled socially. She gets severe anxiety when dealing with others. 
• Peter’s story intertwines, and it starts when he is a young boy in the 1970s. 

MY THOUGHTS

• Heavy topics.
• Seamlessly woven together.
• Writing flows so well. Impossible to put down.
• Compelling, engrossing, & devastating read.
• Two POVs + alternates between past & present.
• Well-developed characters. Loved getting to learn the back stories.
• It’s impossible to not root for Sally!

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Compelling, engrossing, & devastating read. Finished in 24 hrs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cnannery19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alessandrams's review against another edition

dark funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Pregnancy

aimesericks's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

What the FUCK. Best read of the year so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Suicide

tedworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I listened to this as an audiobook and finished it over two days of commutes and lunch breaks. Couldn't put it down! I liked the pacing and I found Sally hugely endearing, but I don't quite feel like it stuck the landing for me. Maybe I'm just not crimebrained enough but I wonder if I would have preferred this story as a novella purely about Sally, without Peter's POV chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

rosamund4096's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It took me a little while to get in to this book but soon I was gripped and couldn't put it down. I found the ending a bit unsatisfying, I would have liked a bit more time to see the impact of the book's resolution on the different characters.

I found Peters arc a bit frustrating, at times he seemed totally lucid and in touch with what was right and wrong, which was hard to believe as it wasn't clear what had changed to alter his thinking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

julsilv's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book was trauma porn basically. Every time I was like wow that sounds like the most traumatic horrible thing ever, it just kept getting more intense/worse. So, huge trigger warning for abduction, sexual abuse, rape, and violence. 

The hook of the book, where sally burns her father in the beginning, literally almost has nothing to do with the rest of it. It’s so crazy. The book takes a while to pick up in the beginning but after Part II begins it gets a lot more complex and interesting. 

There were some things about this book that are predictable and some that aren’t at all, but it was a fast enough read with enough happening to be really engrossing. 

Great book club book, honestly a lot of questions popped up for discussion about ethics, morals and the line between good and bad, along with themes of what it means to be related to someone and how similar or different you might be from your blood relatives. 

Overall, if you want something dark but a quick read that has some twists, then this could be a great book for you. 

Was content with the ending (that’s all I’ll say without giving it away). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic