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trippalli's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
A dark story with a layer of hopeful icing, this story is well written but disturbing. I felt it was a Frankenstein redux, a family is killed by viscous robbers stealing from then then stabbing them all to death... But we meet them later, dead but animated in a night medical theatre hosted by an eccentric ut driven surgeon who had some success it seems or was told he would if he stitched them up in night surgery they might come back to life with the dawn..a philosophical book with layers of darkness and coping with death mortality and wanting to live and save ones family, regrets, hopes and desperation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Very gorey and kinda gross but really well written
‘Even through the walls of the room, the surgeon could feel the pressure of the heavy sky, and of everything beyond it.’
‘Why was it so difficult for him to express true gratitude, to speak freely, perhaps even let his eyes water at this earnestness?’
‘Perhaps that was why one died: so that one could finally fathom death.’
‘Somehow the prospect of the afterlife seemed to cause the surgeon less distress than he felt it should. Perhaps if he were less drained, the ghastliness of it might have overwhelmed him. But now, in this little room, surrounded by the apparatus of this mortal world, one of which was a prepared bed, the afterlife seemed like a distant calamity, to be confronted at a later, mercifully unspecified, date.’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
astroem's review
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Honestly, one of my favourite things about the book is how it never refers to any of the characters by name, they all have epithets that describe their occupation, age or status in society. I greatly enjoyed the references to Hindu mythology woven throughout the story as well as the philosophical explorations mixed with the medical thriller-esque writing of the medical scenes. The ending was a little odd, but it fit perfectly with the themes of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Sexual violence
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