Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Women by Kristin Hannah

36 reviews

esjackson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Grief, Violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Cursing, Suicide, Addiction, Child death, Alcohol, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Vomit, War, and Self harm

Moderate: Classism, Vomit, and Cancer

Minor: Torture, Hate crime, Abortion, and Police brutality

ashdoesalot's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, War, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Medical trauma, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Self harm, Torture, Gun violence, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

sour_tangent's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! Seriously. Wow!

My Dad was POW in Vietnam, was captured during the Tet Offensive & spent time at the Hanoi Hilton. Both my grandmothers were combat nurses during Vietnam & my Dad's Mom worked for The League of POW/MIA Families after her return. I understand so much more now 😭

My Mom read this book 1st, then my Dad & now I have. My Dad says that Kristin Hannah's descriptions of places he's been were "extraordinarily accurate" & how she wrote the war & the aftermath, when they returned was "excruciatingly well written". He said the book was hard to read at times due to painful memories but also very healing. It was the best of times & the worst of times.

I feel like this book was written for me, but im not narcissist enough to "actually" believe that, but I needed this book more than I will ever realize. Her characters were heartbreakingly real & I felt every word & every painfully real moment. I've never cried so much from a book & even after finishing a book. I know these characters & I've now seen these places because of Kristin's amazing storytelling. 

This book is one of the absolute best books I've ever read!! Get a box of tissues... or maybe 3 & strap in for a journey you'll never forget. This book made its spot on my top shelf that I reserved for my favorites & ones I will reread again & again. 👏bravo👏 standing ovation 👏 someone make this into a series because it's too much for a movie & it needs to be told. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Medical trauma, Death, Addiction, Mental illness, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, and Self harm

It's a very descriptive telling of Women Nurses in Vietnam War

oproy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

3.75

I will say, the last 10% of the book had me crying and questioning life. But the first 50-90% was hard to get through. It was a lot of muck, and I felt that Frances had to go through almost too much hurt. It felt unnecessary.

Like I would have believed her trauma after the first death.  I also did not like how quickly the author tried to characterize her at the end as an old spinster.  It was just such a quick turnaround after 200 pages of war, and 200 pages of Frankie spiraling.

 
Overall, I honestly probably would not recommend this book because it is so heavy and at points a little too preachy for my taste. However, the setting and idea behind it is very interesting and definitely something I want to look into further after reading. Even in school, I don’t feel that I learned much about the Vietnam War let alone the women in the war, so this feels like a jumping board. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, War, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Car accident, Medical content, Suicide, Blood, and Child death

hjnorris89's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.25

4.25/5 overall, 0.5/5 spice.  This is a heavy one..good grief!;  gut wrenching sad at times. Honestly, it kind of gave me a bit of self reflection to remember that my life isn't very hard...   

I'll remember this one simply because the book based around Vietnam War and its after effects just goes on from one traumatizing event to the next... all the grief is emotionally challenging.

There were characters I loved (primaripy the women crew), and characters I wanted to love but in the end wound up with heartbreak one way or another.  

The end of this book left things on a hopeful note, thankfully - im thankful her parents came around finally....though in some respects the whole ending seemed almost too good to be true after all she had been through... maybe that's just my way of seeing it??? Lol

As a girl who is all in for fairy tale endings, I hope Francis truly gets her happily ever after (if that's even possible) story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Medical content, Grief, Death, Blood, Self harm, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

sabripolin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

this was longer than it needed to be, many parts felt repetitive and even preach-y. If there was more finesse or editing to the writing, would have added half a star or so! 
I also was originally disappointed in the focus on romance, but I actually see that storyline as a part of Frankie as an unreliable narrator. I do appreciate the finesse Kristin Hannah put on describing

frankies attraction to Rye in Vietnam

from the outset… I was sus of him all along smh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Child death, Death, Grief, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Drug abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Misogyny

clevelandbookgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Self harm, Miscarriage, Medical content, Gaslighting, Child death, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Infertility, Grief, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Drug use, Racism, and Drug abuse

khayes2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I’m not a huge fan of  historical fiction to begin with, so I struggled getting into it, especially with some pretty gruesome war descriptions. And modern parallels to American-funded violence against Palestinian civilians. But the book shifts to the struggle veterans face upon coming back from war, which while still sad, was less gory and a bit faster for me to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Infidelity, Violence, War, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Genocide, and Suicide

alli_christi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Gore, Infidelity, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Cursing

Minor: Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer

readwithkb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

solid 5 ⭐️ read… I did see some of the twists coming but overall the emotion behind the writing blew me away

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, War, Drug use, Genocide, Blood, Car accident, Gore, Infertility, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture