Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Plague by Albert Camus

6 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

There exploration of collective grief and suffering in this book reached into my chest, grabbed my heart and squeezed, and won't let go. I think that this will stay with me for a while. The straightforward writing perfectly and bluntly described the despair of dying and living in a plague. Simple sentences described unimaginable death and sadness. 

The book is explicit that in a situation like this, there are no heroes. There are people hurting and healing and hurting all over again. Life is both paused and unending in a time of isolation and confinement. While not being heroes, the names characters that we do follow help connect with the world and give you something to hold onto in the midst of a huge collective event. Dr. Rieux especially won't get out of my head, but all of the characters are complex and layered. Through their inner thoughts and especially through their interactions with each other and their community, you see the tiny ways that people seek control, connection, or commiseration in the midst of death where everything, even the next day is uncertain. 

What I have come to like about Camus, that I think could turn people away or be very polarizing, is that he offers a very particular brand of hope. His books, this one included, have a theme of the necessity of human hope. We are looking for distractions, but that can only get us so far and often alienate us from our true selves. Hope offers a window for something new and encourages you to fight for what matters, but hope doesn't always mean that things will be better. There will be pain again. There will be death again. All we can do is work through it and find what's worth fighting for. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Animal death

Minor: Excrement, Death of parent, Xenophobia, War, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

woundedhouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

changbineyeskz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Body horror

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

kibiiiariii's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Self harm, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

burnt_amber89's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

(Read in French) An important book to read. The experience of reading it during a pandemic was special : it is incredible how Camus  was able to pinpoint the human psyche and it allowed for real-life comparisons. 
From what I read, this book is also a metaphor for WWII, and some passages are all the more poignant when you keep this in mind. Very interesting and thought-provoking book that I would recommend, especially if you have the opportunity to read it in French since Camus' writing is exquisite. 

A regrettable lack of female protagonists is notable, however. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Confinement, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

minimoongoddess's review

reflective 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? No

3.75

i thought the first 3 parts of the book were pretty interesting, as they dove into the grief and desperation that many of us felt (and still feel, unfortunately) as a result of this pandemic. i had to read this for class and was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty decent and had a few good quotes to ponder over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Medical trauma