Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

34 reviews

lorenag5's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

builtonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I read this on Easter weekend, a break from my cultural industries masters program, this somehow made more invested in my program. As a museum practitioner the scenes at the Museum of Civilization moved me so much. I binge read it from Good Friday to Black Saturday 2024 and somehow, as a lapsed Catholic, the timing felt right. 

Beautiful uncompromising writing with moments that gave me goosebumps. Reading this in 2024, year 4 post COVID-19 was a wild ride, and I'm glad I waited till now to read it. It also made me miss home, family, and the light and heat of my country.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death

cults

berodatheelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A rich dystopian novel that focuses on several characters pre and post pandemic that is lyrically written. It was an interesting deep dive into the psyche of humans and humanity itself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

fedorasommora's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

The writing was meh. The story was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I’ve DNFed better books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

danimcthomas's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolute perfection. I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dominika_benmichael's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicide

vivvs's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

liked the premise, wish the main plot had a little more oomph

i found myself wishing for a bigger conclusion about the prophet storyline. i liked the ending and what mandel decided to include in the dialogue and what she left unwritten

but writing was good and interesting format 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Pregnancy

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

I'd known of the HBO show but I hadn't ever watched it, and I'm glad I haven't. This book is so engaging, beautiful, and made me think so much about what makes humanity. 

It's simultaneously an easy read because of how well-written it is, but also so hard to read in a post-2020 world where COVID fundamentally changed so many things. So much of the book was familiar; Mandel has a keen understanding of how we as a society react to things. Some of the standouts include a dedication to theater and the arts, a dedication to preservation, and relying on religion to the point of madness. All of these things were seen in our pandemic as well as in this book. 

I cannot recommend it enough, and I will probably be thinking about it for a long time after reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lili_geek's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed the majority of the book, but feel like that the author struggled with the ending and combining multiple storylines into one sequence. I probably wouldn’t recommend the book, but I also wouldn’t dissuade them from reading it. The characters were believable and so was the story, I just the connections were forced. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Suicide