Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

90 reviews

hanz's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Pregnancy

errie's review against another edition

dark reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Medical trauma

lottiegasp's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.25

This book depicts a world in the midst of a global pandemic, shifting from in each chapter to the perspective of a completely new set of characters, occasionally with some links to previous characters. Most of the characters are Japanese or Japanese American, like the author. Eventually it takes us further into the future from speculative fiction to full-on science-fiction as new technologies are used to manage, escape or cope with this virus-ridden world.

The book was well-written and captured various emotions and experiences about loss, feeling inadequate, and complicated relationships.

I generally prefer a story with enduring characters over slice of life vignettes, so I was not able to completely engage with the book. However, the ending did end up tying things together in quite an interesting and satisfying way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Suicide, Chronic illness, Grief, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Death of parent

singrequiem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

If you want to be  emotionally devastated in just the most beautiful way over and over again - then this is the book for you. Gorgeous.  I may come back and finish this when I am emotionally stable enough to really give it the proper review it deserves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Chronic illness, Grief, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Blood, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Classism and Colonisation

There are graphic descriptions of decomposition and bodily changes in a detached, clinical way. (Alongside less detached scenes)

jhansell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

lilifane's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

What a fascinating concept. I really love these kinds of works. 
This is basically a short story collection in which each story is connected to the others in some way. These might be just little references to things we've read before, or deeper connections you only figure out later. And that's actually my favorite sort of short story collection. 
All of these stories were also connected by recurring themes. Most prevalent life, death and grief. But also love, family and friendship. Additionally, very story was tied to a pandemic outbreak at the beginning of the book and how this event influenced the way people live and die in the future. The stories itself were little glimpses in the lives of their protagonists. We only get to see a small part of a specific time in their lives, and to me, every story felt very personal and intimate. You see how these people struggle, but also change the lives of others around them in small and big ways. 
But it was definitely a very bleak and depressing read for the majority of the book. With a little bit of hope sprinkled into it. It was hard to read sometimes, and it took me longer than expected, just because I needed breaks to do something fun in between the stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Abandonment, Confinement, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

heatherbear's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Child death, and Death

karlisimp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-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? No

2.5

Wonderfully written. The author explains that this was written as a response to the pandemic even though they had the idea years prior. It was good read, well written, but hard to follow and slow. Captivating and worth the read but very deep. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Chronic illness, Child death, Death, Medical content, and Grief

gjenn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, and Animal death

Minor: Cancer and Sexual content