Reviews with content warning for Medical content - My Policeman

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts

17 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this as part of my 12 books recommended by 12 friends challenge!

Started off slow and a bit overly descriptive for my taste but it picked up around page 60

I preferred Patrick’s POV chapters more because of the writing style! Marion’s chapters, especially in the beginning, were a bit overly descriptive. It slowed down the pacing making it harder for me to want to read the book.

We get chapters in both Marion’s POV and Patrick’s but we never hear from Tom. I thought this was an interesting way to tell the story but I kind of would have liked to hear how Tom felt and thought through all of this.

Overall a fantastically tragic story with complex characters!

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

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kimveach's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.5

What a brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking story. I usually prefer plot-based stories to character-based, but this one captured me completely.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to read this book due to the upcoming film and as a Harry Styles fan, I wanted to get ahead and read the book before watching the film. I hate to say this, and it always kills me, I hope and pray that the film is better because this book was rough.

From the moment Marion first lay eyes on Tom – her best friend’s big brother, broad, blond, blue-eyed – she is smitten. And when he comes home from the National Service to be a policeman, Marion who is a newly qualified teacher is determined to win him. Unable to acknowledge the signs that something is amiss, she plunges into this marriage, sure that her love is enough for both of them. But Tom has another life, another equally overpowering claim on his affections. Patrick who is a curator at the Brighton Museum, is also besotted with his policeman, and opens Tom’s eyes to a world previously unknown to him. But in an age when those of “minority status” were condemned by society and the law, it is safer for this policeman to marry his childhood friend. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed. This book is set in 1950s in Brighton.

This book was tough. I was expecting it to be a gay love story from either Patrick’s and Tom’s point of view. Having half of the book in Marion’s point of view, wasn’t expected and dragged. I was wanting more for forbidden love story that just sort of never happen. I feel like there was too many gaps in this book. One minute Marion and Tom are children, then teenagers, then old, but then not old again. It all got very confusing. I struggled to get into this book and fell like it was one big rant. I would have loved to maybe have a few chapters from the “minor” characters like Sylvie and Michael and to hear what they thought. I would have loved some chapters from Tom’s point of view and seeing how he felt, we only know how we think he felt from Marion and Patrick’s point of view. Marion was horrible, horrible woman. She knew what she was signing up for and expected Tom to change who he was for her.

Overall, this book is not a love story or a forbidden romance. It is a brutal and a difficult read especially from what happened to Patrick whilst he was trying to live his true life. I hope to God for once they change the ending of in this book in the movie adaptation.

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cat_astrophe12's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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hannahrogers's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

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aaliyahdreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is simply the story of a married police officer who is in love with another gay man in the 50’s. The peaks into their love is beautiful and the turbulence within the novel feels rooted in the reality of being LGBTQ+ during that time. While I had sympathy for Marion she is also infuriating at other times for reasons that will become clearer near the ending of the book. I do wish the story focused more on Patrick and Tom and less on Marion. I understood why her perspective is important but it should not have taken up so much of the story. But on the whole the story does move at a very slow pace but is beautifully written and is a good read for those who prefer books that focus on characters rather than plot (aka me).

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maisiepamela's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

I found this book so dull! I felt there was no point to the story and it lead absolutely nowhere at all. I liked the different perspectives and finding out what it was like to be gay in the 50s. However the book was so long with details leading no where at all. The characters were all really aggravating and I didn’t like them. There were a few twists but I didn’t find them super shocking. Some of the quotes were very beautiful and the end was also quite good but it was just boring and pointless for me.

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veronicats's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Listen, I wish every queer story had a happy ending. But sometimes the sad ones are really good too.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Yes, Harry Styles made me read this. I will not be taking critiques at this time.

This book tells the story of Marion, Tom, & Patrick. Tom is a young police officer that Patrick and Marion are both in love with - she as his wife, and he, as his lover in a time where it was illegal to be gay in the UK. The tale unravels from Marion and Patrick's perspectives in dual timelines and as the reader you come to see that no one in this book is an innocent - they each have their pain and they each inflict pain on each other in different ways, and it's often extremely sad to read, but the humanity and messiness of these characters are what made this book so readable and engaging to me, so that was the main thing I liked about it. The writing, too, I thought was gorgeous.

Some issues I had - I don't mind an age gap in a relationship as long as it's ethical as well as legal. Tom and Patrick's age gap itself didn't bother me, but I often felt a little grossed out by the way Patrick was always referencing Tom's youth, his boyishness. It felt....eeeehhh, weird. Didn't love that.

Other than that, I just have this feeling that there was something missing for me during this book. I can't figure out what it was exactly, and if I figure it out, I'll gladly post an update, but whatever it was, it left me feeling that I couldn't give this above a 3 even though I did enjoy it for the most part.

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