Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Island of Dr. Moreau (H.G. Wells: The Science Fiction Collection) by H.G. Wells

18 reviews

captain_capslock's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Wow. I did not expect this book to be so brutal.

Something that everyone, including every adaptation, gets wrong is that they think he's combining humans and animals. He's not. He's vivisecting animals and surgically deforming their bodies to look more human, believing that if they look at least humanoid they'll suddenly 'become' human. They're just innocent animals living in horrific pain and existential terror. None of this is their fault.

The parallels with colonial racism are obvious, and the metaphor here is so ugly I'm not going to touch it with a ten foot pole, not here at least.

The narrator, Edward Prendrck, is... well, he's evil. Horribly, painfully evil. He's borderline more evil that Moreau himself. Reading the book is made all the more difficult because we're having to listen to his burning hatred for everyone around him, especially the animals. He H A T E S the animals, only because they look weird. He actually uses the word 'hate' on practically every page. Knowing that this is a metaphor for colonialism, this paints a reeeally bad light on our protag here. The part that gave me pause was when he and Montgomery commit a genocide. Here's how he describes it:

"Then we went into the laboratory and put an end to all we found living there."

That's it. They shoot up what is essentially the animal (occupied nations) version of Unit 731 and that's all we get about it. No remorse. No sadness. No Guilt. NO EMPATHY. It never even comes up again.
Absolutely brutal.

Extremely disturbing book. That's not a compliment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

lanid's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Murder

tmholsman_1994's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.0

First I want to say that this was not as gruesome as I thought it would be. Now it was still hard to read at some parts, but it wasn't as detailed as I thought it would be given the subject matter.

I like the twist at the end where you kind of find out that the whole story was written like a letter, but you aren't sure if it really happened or not. Was there really an island with a mad scientist who experimented with animal/human creatures? Who knows.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

henyouise's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

devermismysteris's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

woweewhoa's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Slavery, and Medical content

jaimemt_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

neolx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.5

This was a really thoughtful and creepy horror sci-fi story that explored the fuzzy line between human nature and animals that was written, I think, in the wake of the publication of Darwin’s ideas. The author really excelled at creating an eerie atmosphere full of tension and beautiful, terrifying imagery. I can’t wait to read more H.G. Wells!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Medical trauma

ruffian23's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Medical trauma

Minor: Ableism and Racism

apurpleyuan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail