Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Ward D by Freida McFadden

62 reviews

darlaslays's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

My opinion on this book is a bit complicated. It was both easy and difficult to read at the same time. It was engaging and interesting, but also dragged due to how much I disliked the main character.

I found myself getting super irritated at the numerous times the word, “crazy,” was used. The main character, Amy, is super unlikeable and dense. She’s supposed to be a third year medical student, but she doesn’t know a lot of basic information that you would already know as during undergrad, such as “sundowning.” She is clearly not very smart, so I don’t know how she made it into her graduate program. By the end of the book, it appears that

the choice to make her annoying and hard to root for was intentional. Poor Will. If she were a real person, I’m sure Amy will eventually get help for her condition because living with untreated schizophrenia is impossible to hide as you get older.

The conclusion ties everything together and made the slog worth it to me. However, it represents mental illness terribly.

I almost didn’t finish this book due to how the topic of mental health was covered. I also couldn’t suspend my disbelief on the unrealistic aspects of the ward or healthcare in general. I did appreciate when they sort of acknowledged that mentally ill patients are still people too.

Amy is very immature and has a terrible take on mental disorders. It does get reconciled in the end, but that reconciliation does demonize people who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. As someone with bipolar II, I felt irritated that the condition wasn’t accurately portrayed. I’ve had one horrible manic episode with psychosis and several hypomanic periods in my life, but it never led to violence on others. I wish it was clearly depicted that the mental disorders and the violent actions taken by the characters were separate issues.

The writing was clunky at times, and it read like a YA novel. Nothing wrong with that, but the characters certainly didn’t seem like they were mid-to-late twenty somethings. They felt more like teenagers. I definitely cringed at several lines sprinkled throughout the book. At other times, I loved the descriptions of the events unfolding.

All that being said, the twists were fun and interesting, albeit it left the story with plot holes. Focusing on them too much would have just taken my enjoyment away. I can see why people are a fan of McFadden’s writing overall. This is likely not her best work, though.

It’s a fun time, just don’t set your expectations high for realism and be prepared to roll your eyes at the main character’s inner thoughts and actions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

The violence isn’t gratuitous, but people are restrained and beaten, brutally killed, or found dead.

robynml'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, and Blood

hannnah_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

fableworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book had me in a chokehold i couldn’t put it down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

insideunder's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kaymmullins's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Violence and Blood

theycallmerash's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was very exciting, nerve wracking, and tense! Some information about the narrator makes her seem somewhat unreliable which is always a fun read in my opinion. Of course it wouldn't be Freida without a big twist (and another one at the very end that you weren't expecting!)
I did take a point away for some of the mental health portrayals and a couple stretches past the imagination. 
But otherwise this was an interesting read with lots of shocking twists!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

linaxreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Murder, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

megsreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

aahrobot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was my first Freida McFadden book and now I get it. I get the hype. I stayed up until 3AM just to finish this book. Now, I’ve never been good at figuring out twisted, but I will say I did catch on to a few things here and there. I also feel like I only caught onto them RIGHT before the main character did, so maybe I was just really invested. Anyway, I enjoyed this. It was a fast read (mostly because I couldn’t put it down) and the ending got me. Highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail