Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Isole di grazia by Rose Tremain

3 reviews

thealienamongus's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Medical content, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Terminal illness, Homophobia, Child death, and Colonisation

Minor: Pregnancy and Death of parent

saraaaa's review against another edition

At almost 70% of the book, I still couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters, or any of the (too many) storylines.
It took me a year to reach 8 hours in the the audiobook, and I really don't think it's worth the other 4.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

fugitive_words's review against another edition

3.5

Islands of Mercy is a story of vibrant locations and colourful characters. Set in 1860s Bath and Borneo, with some snippets of London, Paris, and Dublin, Rose Tremain captures the spirit of the times with ease. I enjoyed the character development of Jane and the heartfelt sections about motherhood, art, and love. The other plot, though, in Borneo, despite its interesting look into colonial and naturalists’ endeavours, was a little less exciting to me. Perhaps this would have worked better as more of a subplot, or in a tv-series, as it often felt like a distraction from the main plot, left behind on an unnecessary cliffhanger. The end of the novel is wonderfully hopeful and comforting, though it only comes after a rather late climax (which makes the middle of the novel a little stagnant). All in all, however, a pleasant summer read with an engaging story neatly tied up in the end. 

Also will say that Tremain manages to keep the representation of men quite balanced, despite the heavy dose of Dr Valentine Ross, who is selfish and mean.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness, Colonisation, and Racism