Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

16 reviews

rebecca_bluedragonskeep_books's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Sexual assault, Cancer, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Racism, Physical abuse, Child death, Rape, Death of parent, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, War, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Blood, and Torture

erinvasut's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Genocide, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Blood, Murder, Rape, Slavery, War, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Deportation, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, and Torture

megan_wy's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So amazing, heartbreaking, emotional, and beautiful. This book was worth every second and every page 🤍 The author writes in a way that makes you feel and truly connect with both main characters. I really appreciated the steady, but not too confusing, transitions between their points of view in the novel. Their growth was really so interesting and heartfelt to read. You truly connect and experience every single emotion with them. The story also highlights the strength and power in women in historical moments that are almost always surrounded around the highlights of men. You will feel empowered, scared, brave, ambitious, and extremely emotional. I love the female empowerment, romance, family and platonic love, and determination in the writing. The book shows that love is what can keep people strong in the most traumatic times. Wounds heal. Love lasts. 🩵

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Death, Xenophobia, Confinement, Physical abuse, War, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Deportation, Antisemitism, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Miscarriage

franklola's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Deportation, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Child death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Colonisation, Murder, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Infertility, Alcohol, Cancer, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, and Miscarriage

sarahfeller's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Vomit, Torture, War, Murder, Infidelity, Gore, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death, Deportation, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Rape, Violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Addiction, Excrement, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Blood, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Pregnancy

flowchelle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

marine2907's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Cancer, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Deportation, Cursing, Grief, Medical content, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, and War

amandalawrance's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book has caused me emotional damage, I know I will think about it forever. It is so beautiful and amazing, but tragic and heart breaking. My emotions were all over the spectrum and jumped frequently. It was so inspiring, it makes you want to be more courageous and strong. I will read again when I am ready.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Murder, Violence, War, Miscarriage, Death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Chronic illness, Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide

Moderate: Torture and Rape

mattiedancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

The writing is quite stunning. The prose is beautiful, weighted, and eloquent. There were some truly stunning standalone lines, but it also had a nice cohesion. Beyond that, it wasn’t a challenging writing style to read and was well-woven into the plot. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters were highly motivated and flawed, which meant that they felt uniquely human to me. The characterization of the Nazi soldiers was particularly detailed and complicated, leading to moments of pathos for these villains. At times, it felt like certain characters made very weird choices, but it was usually justified later. This just led to a slower understanding of characterization than I might have liked, but it wasn’t too jarring.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

I know that this is kind of a fan-favourite book, so I’m reluctant to say this, but at times it felt like the author used trauma a bit reflexively to address human moments. Too many times did I know that a terrible scene was coming and, when it came, it was witnessed by one too many characters who we had grown to love, no matter how illogical it might be that they would have ended up witnessing it. I appreciate that this is dealing with the reality of war horrors that took place during WWII; however, at times, it just felt a bit too neat in how directly the trauma continuously happened. That being said, the overarching plot was really well done. I loved the story-within-a-story format that the grandmother at the beginning set up. Overall a solid plot with just a lot of trauma at the end. 

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

The ending felt fine: necessary and complete. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of WWII novels
• Fans of historical fiction
• Fans of Kristin Hannah
• Fans of real-life trauma books or books focusing on horrific moments

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Violence, Sexual violence, War, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Cancer

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Addiction, Infertility, and Abandonment

slama_llama's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Coming from a totally different part of the world, our history books do not cover WW2 in much detail other than highlighted names and dates and a few important accounts. This book is a historical fiction and not reality, it helped me peek at the horror that war is (yes, I understand that this is the water down, digestible, slightly romanticised version of the reality). I realised that there are so many ways that war affects people’s regular, everyday lives. So many ways it affects children- the intensity and the subtler effects never occurred to me. 
And this is not a thing of the past. There countries that are still at war, and things much worse than what is described here is happening to them, right now. Even with the resources we have, they are not receiving the aids they deserve. 
It might not be completely related to the content of this book, but I was reminded so many times how important it is that we keep remembering the past, our mistakes and it’s horrors, so we can manage our present in a way that we don’t have to relive it. 
This book was peppered with references to incidents and places I’ve never heard of and wish to learn a little more about. 
I appreciate the book and it’s writing. The last few chapters felt a bit cliche, but I liked the neat way the book ended. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Genocide, Physical abuse, and War

Moderate: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Violence, Grief, Confinement, and Rape

Minor: Chronic illness, Alcohol, Cancer, and Miscarriage