Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

93 reviews

wheelyautistic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

5.0

I loved how I was practically in the mind of the author. Although it seems like it's a little all of over the place and hard to keep track of in reality this perfectly depict the author's mind and thought through the toughest time in her life.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

sarabookshelf's review against another edition

emotional

3.75

I feel conflicted reviewing this book as it's so personal, honest and emotional, and it recounts in vivid detail a very difficult period for the author. However, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The continuous name dropping was a bit much, at times it felt a bit clinical and detached, but there were some amazing quotes about grief and dealing with grief in it that really resonated with me. Overall, not bad, but if you're looking for comfort or meaning in mourning, this book is not for you. 

“Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailiness of life.”

“I could not count the times during the average day when something would come up that I needed to tell him. This impulse did not end with his death. What ended was the possibility of response.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Grief

rayinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Medical content

paigicus's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Grief

Minor: Abortion

_quinnsreads's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Medical content

zoinkie's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Grief

isscnls's review

It's kind of interesting, and a little disarming, to read someone with such a rational, straightforward mind talk about the experience of grieving, which is an absolutely irrational, complicated thing. I think that makes it more heartbreaking, the making sense of things that cannot be in any way made sense of. This realization only came of course because I read one other Didion work before this. The contrast between that previous book and this one is unapparent in terms of language, style, wording — but, to use the word again, disarming in terms of the surety one exudes and one doesn't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Death, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

megthepoet's review

reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content and Death

dearbhlanoonan's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Medical content