Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

21 reviews

maryconney's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mariposagal's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Racism

wogslandwriter's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

To be honest, I found the book mostly boring. I only finished it because the audiobook was pretty short and I wanted to see how the real world storyline resolved. It wasn't too much of a mystery and the novel portion of the story was more of a supporting character to the narrative between Leo and Hannah than a full story on it's own.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and it's nuanced and less nuanced analyses of how a story is affected by the author and vice versa. Some parts were feather-light and I felt accomplished for seeing them and noticing the themes. Other parts were extremely heavy-handed and felt a little silly to read. 

I think having the "real world" elements be restricted entirely to correspondence was a really smart move and really pulled the book together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

One of the main characters describes and incident from their past where a younger sibling dies in an accident. Another describes a childhood incident where a beating from a parent has pedophilic overtones, but there is an intervention before anything beyond physical violence occurs.

heidipretzel's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Gun violence and Blood

librarymouse's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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

4.0

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Police brutality

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The ending had me questioning what I just read. Overall, the plot kinda of dragged once I reached the halfway point. There were so many plot twists happening that it was hard to keep up. I loved the duel story element. The emails were a nice touch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism

rmgiannino's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bumblero's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I thought the meta-narrative was intriguing. It helped me appreciate some of the subtleties that I missed but also made me question the three layers of story going on at once. Definitely kept me on my toes!

Would recommend! Likeable cast of characters, a decent sense of place, and I enjoyed how self-aware the book was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, and Gaslighting