Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Q by Christina Dalcher

11 reviews

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Cursing, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

eyedoc's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Abortion, Bullying, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity and Antisemitism

stabilesero's review

tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A dystopian society that I believe, one day, could truly happen.

I think the most enjoyable part of this book is how the attitudes, perceptions and preconceived opinions of some of the characters are very real. It's taken a societal attitude that could be said to be very real right now, and multiplied it by 10 through government laws and policies. 

I really enjoyed it, especially the ending where I could see ideas/themes tying in with that of the Handmaid's Tale.

This will happily sit on my bookshelf to be read again and again.

I'd honestly also love to read about the journalists view in this dystopian universe, whereby there's more information and digging in terms of the science and politics.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Kidnapping

caterpillar's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death, Racism, Genocide, Suicide, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Abortion, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Antisemitism

alp_books's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Abandonment, Abortion, Classism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Ableism, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Racism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Violence, and Rape

rachels_reads1203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Omg, this book was so good. Dystopian education. It's giving Among the Hidden vibes and I am HERE FOR IT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Medical trauma

susz's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

meluhnie's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This was kind of a dystopian in the near future.  This story touched on lots of uncomfortable topics, especially eugenics, politics, our education system, abortion, elitism...it's a squirmy read for white America.  As an LGBT+ parent and a POC, I couldn't help but think..."Am I supposed to be surprised?" Meh. 

I did enjoy the read, I enjoyed the story, I connected with the MC as a mother. I'm glad I read it. But I just couldn't identify with the struggle, like this isn't the worst America has done.  It's good to learn about, but it's nothing new.  I did enjoy the Author's note at the end, and I think she accomplished her goal. So on that end it would be 5 stars.  But for me, not so much.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Ableism, Medical content, Gaslighting, Classism, and Abortion

mira123's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 

Ich kenne keinen einzigen Menschen, der sich nicht über irgendwelche Zahlen definiert. Notenschnitt, Intelligenzquotient, gelesene Bücher pro Jahr, Gewicht, Kleidergröße, wie viel am Monatsende noch am Konto ist. Und das ist auch nicht immer nur schlecht. Ich meine: Wem schadet es, wenn ich messe, wie viele Bücher ich pro Jahr lesen kann? Aber schon in unserer Realität kann sowas sehr schnell außer Kontrolle geraten. Dann entstehen zum Beispiel Essstörungen. Oder Menschen werden als weniger wertvoll angesehen, nur weil ihre Noten schlechter sind oder sich ihr Intelligenzquotient nicht im dreistelligen Bereich befindet.

In "Q" ist wirklich alles von einer Zahl abhängig: deinem Q-Wert. Was da so genau reinspielt, weiß keiner so genau. Auf jeden Fall sind deine Schulnoten mit drinnen oder später deine Leistungen bei der Arbeit und auch die Leistungen deiner anderen Familienmitglieder spielen eine Rolle. Und wenn du einen höheren Q-Wert hast, darfst du zum Beispiel die Express-Kasse benutzen. Auf Kinder wirkt sich dieses System besonders stark aus: Je nach Q-Wert müssen sie eine andere Schule besuchen. Auf silbernen Schulen sind die kleinen Einsteins, auf grünen Schulen die Schüler, die im guten mittelmäßigen Bereich abschneiden und in gelben Schulen alle die Kinder, die unterdurchschnittliche Leistungen erzielen und deswegen als minderwertig angesehen werden. Das sind dann Internate, denn offensichtlich haben die Eltern ja bei der Erziehung ihrer Sprösslinge versagt, also muss ihnen der Staat unter die Arme greifen. Wenn diese Kinder überhaupt geboren werden... Denn die Messung des Q-Werts beginnt schon vor der Geburt und wenn der dann zu niedrig ist, wird den Eltern eine Abtreibung empfohlen.

Dieses Buch war verdammt gruselig und genau deswegen konnte ich es nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Dystopien behandeln immer auch Aspekte unserer Wirklichkeit und auch hier wurde mir schnell klar, dass diese Idee nicht aus der Luft gegriffen wurde. Spätestens gegen Ende des Buchs wird das auch offensichtlich.

Mein einziger Kritikpunkt ist die Gewalt gegen Ende des Buchs. Beziehungsweise die Art, wie die Gewalt beschrieben wird. Gewalt kommt eigentlich gar nicht so viel vor, in vielen anderen Büchern gibt es mehr. Aber sie wurde auf eine Art beschrieben, die mich dazu zwang, immer wieder Lesepausen einzulegen. Gerade von einer Szene wurde mir richtig übel.

Mein Fazit? Eine unglaublich spannende Dystopie, über die ich sicher noch länger nachdenken werde. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

infairveronaa's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.0

Was nauseous for 90% of this book. This was better than Dalcher's debut novel, Vox, for me though so if you didn't like that one I'd still give this dystopian world a try but only if you're cool with thinking about how close America came to or could come to this world. And the nausea, gotta be cool with the nausea inducing occurences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Eugenics, fertility manipulation