Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

17 reviews

rays_bookclub's review against another edition

inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Death of parent

sponberry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse

michaelion's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Very respectful of people with different minds. Very kind. Very well reseaeched into the intersections of people's lives and how their mental illnesses or impairities can / may be affected by outside factors. Very very, very real, living, loving book. 🥰 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Confinement, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical content, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Car accident, Racial slurs, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Rape, Cancer, and Pedophilia

madeleinebay's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Police brutality

alicelalicon's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Alcohol, Medical content, Racism, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Sexual content, Ableism, and Cursing

Minor: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Medical content, Death of parent, and Self harm

clemencepct's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Animal death

bookmark3brodi's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Alcohol, Animal death, Car accident, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, Blood, Bullying, and Death of parent

stwriter92's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-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

5.0

“A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith, from which a word takes heart and follows, drawing a sentence into its wake. From there, a paragraph amasses, and soon a page, and the book is on its way, finding a voice, calling itself into being.”

Thus starts The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. Set against the backdrop of the turmoil of the 2020 presidential election and the BLM movement, the novel centers on the lives of twelve year old Benny Oh, who has just lost his musician father in a terrible accident. His life and the life of his mother, Annabel, immediately begin to unravel as each finds a way to deal with the trauma of loss. Annabel begins to hoard items, longing for connection and desperate to surround herself by things and items that will never leave her. Benny, on the other hand, begins to hear the voices of the objects around him and, after listening to a particularly violent pair of scissors, ends up admitted to a psychiatric ward where he meets all manner of people. Among them is the beautiful, artistic, self-named Aleph with whom Benny falls in love with almost immediately. She is an experimental artist who, while she is not in the ward, roams the streets of the unnamed, vaguely American city with a homeless philosopher and poet, Slavoj. In them, Benny finds a sense of belonging that he does not find anywhere else. He finds an ultimate sense of refuge in the Library, where he meets a book that narrates his life to him in a way that is so compassionate and honest that it's nearly painful. 

After reading A Tale For The Time Being in 2020, I knew that I needed to pick up more books by Ruth Ozeki. This book deals with major themes of death, grief, the transience of existence, and the universal longing to connect in a world that is both completely connected and disconnected at the same time. It urges us as the reader to approach it with a sense of compassion for its broken, beautiful, lonely characters. It holds a mirror up for us, asking us to truly look into what makes us human and real. As we grasp for connection, we find ourselves slowly distancing from one another like orphan planets drifting apart. There were many times I had to put this book down for a few days just to calm and gather my thoughts. This was an uncomfortable read, but an incredibly beautiful one. I would highly recommend anyone and everyone to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Drug use, Mental illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Vomit

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Cursing, Sexual assault, Grief, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Police brutality, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use