Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

35 reviews

_lars_'s review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Violence, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abandonment

There was some really uncomfortable

sexual scenes described from a child's perspective & then more sexual scenes acted out by said child

drpeeper's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

3.5

Not as bad as I feared, some inaccurate pop psychology that would likely only bother folks that work in the field, maybe some ableism/not ideal depiction of mental health but not egregious. Chapters from kid’s POV were deeply cringey but i could see how that would be hard to avoid. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

minimicropup's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The Energy: Alarming. Devious. Contentious. 

The Scene: 🇺🇸 A modern minimalist home in a gentrified neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

The POVs: We follow a parent living with chronic illness and conflicted feelings about parenthood. We also follow their non-verbal gifted child with big thoughts limited by their childlike understanding of the world.  

 

🐕 Howls: Nitpicky but this kept nagging me - Suzette has a phone with her 24/7 but never attempts to document Hanna’s antics for proof. 

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing and character choice for the multiple perspectives. The conflicted, twisted, heart-wrenching Feels. That ending.  I love when a story points out that having kids means having a total stranger in your life that you are fully responsible for (for almost two decades). 

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🎬 Tale-Telling: The writing is gritty, direct, with touch of surreal. The multiple perspectives worked well here since it built a bit of sympathy for each character at the start and adds suspense over whether there’s hope for this family.  

 

👥 Characters: The characters were a spectrum from relatable to unhinged villainy and back again. I loved the character development centered around the parent-child rivalry and mismatch. I liked the descriptions of the characters - not everyone is ‘beautiful’ or ‘handsome’, they’re refreshingly real. 

 

🤓 Reader Role: Psychic insight getting the lowdown on every thought and fear from both Suzette and Hanna. We’re also a fly on the wall watching each moment unfold and seeing the past and present collide knowing their experiences and perspectives. 

 

🗺️ Ambiance: Nailed the unsettling, claustrophobic atmosphere, and I loved the contrast against the family’s modern, minimalist home that was designed for them and should be their safest space. 

 

🔥 Fuel: The story's engine runs on the battle of wills between mother and daughter with escalating actions and reactions. Every rational (and irrational) move by Suzette and Hanna somehow made sense in the context of their relationship. Usually I find the ‘husband in denial’ trope contrived, but in this story it was used well and was surprisingly deep.

 

📖 Cred Rating: Semi-realistic but don't think too hard about it. Suzette's survivals and Hanna's genius felt eerily plausible (but also kind of theoretical, so not fun if you’re prone to overanalyzing).

 

🚙 Journey: From zero to twenty to a hundred. For the first half I found myself alternating between hating each character and rooting for them. I’d describe this as a slow burn that escalates exponentially until it becomes fully unhinged domestic horror.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Exploration of creepy kid nature vs nurture and personalities
• Psychological horror with a cat-and-mouse parent-child clash 
• What would you do conundrums with ‘how far would you go for your child’ and ‘how far would you go for your spouse’
• Exploring themes and commentary around communication styles, misunderstandings, parenting challenges, regret, resentment, the dark side of family life, manipulation, chronic illness, pregnancy, nature vs nurture, childhood mental illness, destruction, denial, and trauma

 

Content Heads-Up: Medical (Crohn’s and inflammatory bowel, surgery, pregnancy; recall and experience; on and off page). Psycho/sociopathy/personality disorders. Narcissistic parent (recall; descriptive experience off page). Blood. Attempted murder. Fire/fire injury. Institutionalization. Sexual content (descriptive, observed, on page). 

 

Rep: Heterosexual. Cisgender. White and ambiguous Americans and Swedes. Chronic illness. Non-verbal communication. 

 

👀 Format: Library Hardcover

 

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

amaranth_wytch's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Child abuse

hollicane's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content and Sexual assault

rorunyon96's review

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

kates_cupcakes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content

kirahaycock21's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75

This book was a little slow for me… I had to stop about halfway through and read two other books, then come back to it. But it was a really interesting book; it had me questioning the main characters motives and mental stability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Vomit, Blood, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

hazle_363's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

This book was compelling but I was anxious the whole time I read it

I didn’t like the open ending, I wanted to have Janna’s brain explored a bit more and a resolve to whether her and her mom would reconcile

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Cursing, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Self harm, Blood, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Body horror

jennylane's review

fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail