Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

25 reviews

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.5

This feels less like a novel and more like an observation of the intersecting lives of the characters over a period of time. The presence and fear of the serpent is  pervasive, it changes people’s behaviour and impacts the way they live their lives. The writing is excellent, the narrative interesting enough to be unpredictable and it held my attention, but not engrossing enough to read it fast. I could have happily read a chapter a month and kept pace with the passage of time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Infidelity

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

I went into the book not really knowing what to expect (it's a book that I've seen recommended many times and wanted to give it a try) and now that I've finished it I can say that it was a nice enough read and clearly well written and researched but it just fell a bit flat for me in terms of story.  

Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the 
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place. 

Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.

Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Body shaming, and Sexual violence

maddiehansen's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

vonmonsta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

"Not even knowledge takes all the strangeness from the world"

I've heard such polarising views on The Essex Serpent that I didn't really know what to expect but having been sat on my to-read pile for a good few years, it was about time I picked it up.

Inspired by tales of a serpent lurking in the saltlands, newly widowed amateur naturalist Cora Seaborne moves to Essex, chasing after the idea of the fabled Essex Serpent. 

Set in the late 19th Century The Essex Serpent is lyrically written & evocative, slightly gothic at times; there were so many descriptions and phrases which delighted me with how beautiful they were! It all moved so easily! 

It's a beautiful story exploring faith, superstition and scientific fact, friendship and romantic love, the boundaries of which keep blurring, liminal like the landscape it's set in. 

It was rather a slow book, with the plot not really kicking in until the last third, however it didn't prevent my absolute enjoyment of it; I was really charmed by the protagonist, (in fact all of the characters were really interesting & charming in their own way, & I enjoyed reading elements of the tale from their point of view), the way the narrative was woven together, the mounting panic & fear of the townspeople & there was enough of a slight unease running through the novel to keep me reading. 

The menace is, however, never quite fully formed and remains a little misty and vague at times & I did feel that there were sparks of potential subplots but they either fizzled out or didn't altogether properly manifest, but it remains an absorbing tale that I throughly enjoyed!

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide, and Terminal illness

tqlikesbooks's review against another edition

relaxing slow-paced

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

2.0

I haven't got much to say about this. Though I recognise it is a very well written and crafted novel, it just didn't work for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Miscarriage and Infidelity