Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

97 reviews

saliwali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

I made it 30 minutes into this book last spring and stopped because, trigger warning,

it starts with suicide because someone is losing everything and I was afraid it would push me over the edge.

But the last category on my 2023 reading challenge is "a book you started but didn't finish," So I gave it a another shot this week. I wish so much that I had made it to minute 36 last spring, which is oddly the whole point of this unbelievably beautiful and hopeful book. Spoiler alert: she thrives.

ash_bees's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-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

"Where there are books, there is always a temptation to open them."

Reminiscent of the movie "It's A Wonderful Life," except instead of only experiencing one alternative, the protagonist experiences many.  It does get a bit preachy, but so did "It's A Wonderful Life."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

croquetadepapa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.75

the one by taylor swift if it was a book

i persist and resist the temptation to ask you if one thing had been different, would everything be different today?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Cancer, Addiction, Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Suicide

reginacattus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

A lesson in finding hope within despair, and also embracing the many worlds theory in physics.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Homophobia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Cancer

hannah_mariee's review against another edition

emotional 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? N/A

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Animal death, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Car accident

flowerrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal death, Medical content, Suicide, Dysphoria, and Grief

Minor: Car accident and Infidelity

silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

I think this book is judged far too harshly when people say it's 'pro suicide'. I can see how the 'what if' idea at the heart of it could be unhelpful and unhealthy for people in certain dark mental places to contemplate, and readers should be appropriately warned, but it's clearly intended as a celebration of life and a demonstration that regretting your life choices may be misguided.

That said, the secondhand embarrassment with a book that's almost entirely about a version of body switching is so real. It's handled lightly enough to be much better than it could be, but there are some unavoidably cringy moments that make it a lot less fun to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Animal death

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Death

Minor: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Mental illness, Car accident, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective tense medium-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

4.0

I hate when the ending of a book is so good it bumps its star rating up one. The ending was so good but the rest of the book was kind of bland and slow. 

I put every possible content warning I saw the minor ones were pretty much just mentioned by the word and same with a few of the moderate ones but they repeated a bit. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Mental illness, and Animal death

Moderate: Medical content, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual content, Stalking, Chronic illness, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Cancer

jesselopod's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.25

I really liked this book, the audio reading was excellent and it was very consumable for such heavy themes. I will say that somewhere in the second half it went from a 5 star book to a 4 star book for me. I think it was something about the way it got a little bit preachy and platitudey by making some big generalisation about

motives of suicide being about regrets and kind of hand waved over mental illness as a mindset problem.

Either way, it was a good book and I am willing to forgive the bits that didn’t sit right with me because it’s a hard topic to navigate well and ultimately it needed to fit the plot. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death, and Death of parent

toriffic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, and Mental illness

Minor: Pregnancy, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Vomit