Reviews tagging 'Death'

Trust by Hernán Díaz

25 reviews

seventhswan's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

3.5

This book was the definition of "trust the process" for me. It's not that it didn't get going straight away - there was a clear plot and interesting characters from the start - but I had no idea at all where it was going until midway through the third section, so I spent a lot of time worried that I was trying to understand the intricacies of the stock market for nothing. 

If I'm honest, the first two sections bored me a little and I found myself skim reading. They were clearly excellently crafted and I couldn't fault the characters or plotline at all, it just really wasn't a topic I was interested in. However, I raced through the third and fourth sections in a couple of hours. As the story shifted away from the stock market and focused on Ida and Mildred as characters, I was much more invested. 

This was a book with an extremely long setup, but I think the payoff was just about worth it, even if there wasn't a huge twist in the end as I thought there might be. It was excellent as a work of literature, and I see why it was highly commended, I just personally struggled to get excited by the heavy focus on the economy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

goodolnicole's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Medical content, Death, and Mental illness

noemie_0612's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Gripping from beginning to end. Much more to uncover than I expected. Loved it. 
The last part

describes the life of a patient in a hospital. Having experienced for a couple of months recently, i found it described the experience and thoughts incredibly well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Mental illness, and Death

dolores153's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

Revelations about 2/3 of the way through the book completely changed meaning of earlier chapters. Started over again at the beginning, and enjoyed recognizing the interplay of the various parts. Unexpectedly delightful analogy with musical progressions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism, Death, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Cancer, and Classism

m_a_j's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Classism

lizzym126's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Mental illness, and Sexism

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Cancer, and Medical content

couchaphant's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

This is a fascinating read - it inspired me to pause and research 1850-1919 New York, a period of time I knew little about. This is a layered book that is reminiscent of looking into parallel facing mirrors.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Cancer

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Death, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol

kellyofcali's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

2.0

I...did not love this. It had an interesting structure, with very different styles for different sections, so I definitely liked some more than others (I enjoyed the end sections by female characters most, and the middle section by one of the male characters least) - but I found some quite slow. I also just think I'm not super inherently interested in the finance world, so that bit got kind of old for me. I do think it had some interesting themes around wealth, illness, relationships, and storytelling, and my book club was split on it (some really liked it, others were in my camp) so I wouldn't say no to it for everyone!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol

juksu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Classism, Death, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Cancer

Minor: War