Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

53 reviews

whimsicalish's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.25

I picked this up because the premise sounded interestingly dark. A book about a possible demon child? Sign me up.

Sadly, it was not that. I wouldn't consider it horror or mystery since everything is clear. You read from the mother's and Hanna's perspective. Nothing is in secret. You know Hanna's intention right away. It takes away the horror because you're not guessing what's coming next. Hanna tells you herself.

I was most engaged in the first third or quarter. You're learning about the stakes and what Hanna wants. But her perceptive really takes away any surprise. It was nice to get backstory of the mom, Suzette. You learn why it's significant for her to be a good mother. But there are paragraphs, sometimes pages, about Swedish traditions (why?) or her odd dreams. You don't need odd dreams in the story when you have an odd reality of your kid trying to snuff you out! The father is the most useless character. His ONLY purpose is for the conflict. 

The mother and daughter fight over his love. The only reason Hanna is able to act out constantly is solely because the father never believes his wife. He really takes the word of his gremlin 7 year old over many adults. Including his wife, who he repeatedly interrupts and ignores. "I never see this bad behavior so that must mean it never happens!" Sir, you are a fully grown man. Act like one.

 

Hanna's intelligence is brought up many times. I don't doubt she's smart. 

But you expect me to believe this child that NEVER spoke in her 7 years has a perfect French accent. The mom constantly brought up how perfect her French accent sounded. HOW? Hanna never speaks! Does she practice somewhere alone on her witchy French accent?

 

I wanted more from the climax and lukewarm ending. The book does raise the question: 

Is Hanna acting out because she was abused? Her core memory at 3-years-old was frightening after her mother nearly choked her. That started Hanna to "test" her mother. She wanted to know if her mother really loved her or only acted as a doting mom. But the book doesn't encourage this line of thought after portraying Hanna as despicable and vindictive.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

Minor: Domestic abuse

eleanorrae's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder

ten_telegrams's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Cursing, and Grief

imrath's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Excrement

frankieray's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I almost couldn’t get into this book because it triggers me so much. I still don’t know if I should have read it, it stressed me out a lot, but I also think it was well written and the story was intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Violence, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, and Toxic relationship

brattymadi99's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Left me begging for a sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Gore

kierstm's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, and Sexual content

katyannreads's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Child abuse

lilacwhisker's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very crazy and made me want to vomit. It likes how at the start of the book the main focus is on Hanna’s mental issues/psychotic behaviors, and then near the end we also get to see how Suzette reflects many of these. I thought the comparisons of mothers and their daughters throughout the story (Suzette’s mother, Suzette, and Hanna) was interesting even without the horror bits. Even so, this book could be a little repetitive at some points and I can understand why some people didn’t like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body horror, Cursing, Excrement, Medical content, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Eating disorder and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, and Incest

mangosunscreen's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, and Ableism