Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

91 reviews

rebeccaquinton's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Medical trauma

ekcd_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Body horror

enmcurrie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

What I love about this book is the beautiful execution of the plot. Kathy, the narrator, looks back on her life in the seemingly idyllic “Hailsham”, where students are taught art and literature. As she grows up, she realises the purpose of her existence and why her and others at Hailsham grew up so secluded from the outside world. Kathy recalls her life through anecdotes of her time spent with her dearest friends Ruth and Tommy. The book is advertised as science fiction/dystopia, but to me it’s so much more than that. 

It’s about the value of human life, the “right” and “wrong” time for love, the beauty of friendship and how one deals with the inevitable fate of death. The plot is written in such a subtle way, that you almost forget you’re reading a dystopian novel. I love the way Ishiguro writes. The way he “tells” you something without telling you, the way he foreshadows throughout and the way he can create such a horrifying plot that’s difficult to come to terms with, in the simplest of prose. It’s beautiful storytelling, I felt like I was taking a journey through Kathy’s memories with her.

There is no shock factor or grotesque writing, and yet it still feels like you’re trapped in this ongoing nightmare with the characters, and it’s really quite sad. 

What stuck with me most was Kathy’s quiet and painful abdication to what was going on around her. Her story is heartbreaking, and the ending sort of left me reflective and sombre. I recommend this book a lot, I really enjoyed it. It’s subtle, it’s chilling, it’s horrific, it’s beautiful. Just a great piece of writing, with poignant messages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Bullying

Minor: Infertility

lizzie24601's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Stalking

jen_again's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical trauma

glitchkitsch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Gaslighting, Infertility, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

The type of forced institutionalization is not what one would consider typical but it's difficult to explain what that content warning means without spoiling the whole thing so just tread cautiously.

temporarilyhuman's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, and Trafficking

juliethere's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, and Medical content

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

This book was really interesting, and for once I kind of guessed some of the twists/reveals ahead of time. I kept expecting the book to get suddenly more intense or sad, and though of course it was sad, I never came close to crying. It's almost like the mystery distracted me from how sad it was. But! Overall it was written well and it's a powerful book. Not sure I'd recommend it, but I definitely don't regret reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, and Infertility

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Torture, Suicide, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Terminal illness, Stalking, Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Drug use

booksjessreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-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? No

5.0

What. A. Book. This is a masterpiece. A work of art. One of my favourite books this year without a shadow of a doubt. Kazuo Ishiguro is definitely going to be an auto-buy author for me now. What a fantastic novel.

I haven't read much dystopian fiction since I started my reading journey and I actually loved it. This was genuinely a book I couldn't put down and it took me less than 24 hours to read. Ishiguro dropped subtle hints throughout, and at the end of each chapter I just couldn't leave it there.

I really liked the character development of Kathy, Ruth and Tommy and how their relationships changed throughout the novel during their discovery of why they exist. Their hunt for the truth is what kept me so intrigued.

This is eloquently dark, chillingly tense and harrowing but also a tale of friendship and love for others and this mixture of emotions just kept me so excited to see what was happening next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Infertility