Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Killingly by Katharine Beutner

4 reviews

cherry_lake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

This is not a genre I normally read. But I was fully caught by the story pretty early in.

Things I loved:
- The prose!! The descriptions! The metaphors.
- the slow burn mystery and trickle of new revelations
- the impossible way that the author handled some of the heaviest topics in a way that did not feel gratuitous but had an equally mundane and otherworldly quality.
- the characters were so good.

This book is slow paced! Not for those who want action or constant answers. Also could be extremely triggering, as it depicts a lot of shitty stuff. 

I didn’t find out until after that it was based on true facts around a missing person case. It certainly answered some of my questions, namely, how was that short story written!? But anyway so good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

charlereads's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katy_bee's review against another edition

dark medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

This felt rather sprawling, which left me a bit unsatisfied. I only realised on reading the afterward that it's loosely based on a true story and includes contemporary sources- a newspaper article and short story. Once I read that, it made a bit more sense as to why things didn't come together more nearly and why those sources were dropped in. 
Given how much fictionalising of the original story occurred, I would have preferred the whole thing to have been more tightly focused. It wasn't clear who the main character was or what journey we were supposed to be following. 
The foreshadowing felt a bit heavy handed at times, the reveal of the "mystery" of Bertha's disappearance was somehow both mundane and a bit melodramatic and the wrapping up of characters many years later also felt a bit off to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Self harm, and Stalking

raychelbennet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Alcohol