Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

19 reviews

brynhayes's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

littletiramisu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

A good story, but the timelines are quite confusing, especially since the book is going back in time and events, and not forward.

juliaathomsonnn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.25

Timeline moves in a very confusing way at first (backwards)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Medical content, and Pregnancy

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

I really enjoyed this! It did start off slow, but I got into it when I started to learn and care about the characters. I really liked the topics did and how they were discussed. I learned a lot. I do wish that this was told a different way. I wish it was from start to Finish not kind of the finish to the start and then the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

Even with the weird plot structure that kept confusing me (the book is written backward), I can’t discredit the way Jodi tells a story. The social commentary, the unexpected plot twist, the dissection of the human experience, and the understanding that everything is complex. This is a story about women. Their choices, their secrets, their battles, their love. Another stellar Picoult novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

rosalind's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, and Classism

blueskies157's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Incest, Vomit, and Death of parent

awells96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Religious bigotry

gemmascott's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was very brave to tackle such a divisive subject - abortion - and to offer explorations of so many different sides of the debate. It also showed the importance of access to women’s reproductive health care more broadly and how measures designed to prevent abortions actually have a much wider impact. 

However, I would have liked more discussion regarding the aftermath of the event, especially for some of the side characters. Similarly, I wasn’t a big fan of the book’s “backwards” structure - I found it quite repetitive and found myself growing impatient at times, as I felt myself becoming more and more detached from the plot. This had the effect of making me less interested in the characterisation, not more, as I just wanted to know what was happening! 

Altogether though, a nuanced look at a difficult, yet incredibly important topic. The author’a note at the end carried perhaps the most important message of the book - the fact that preventing access to legal abortion, will not make it stop, it will just put more women’s lives in danger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Terminal illness