Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

13 reviews

dblue236's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.0

What... why... but... 

Did I just read a 300-page first chapter? Was that ACTUALLY the entire book? Did I really spend all that time waiting to find out what was happening only to learn... nothing at all? 

Okay, I'm mad. I loved the concept of this book and the tension of it was glorious. And then just... nothing. No resolution. No explanation. No ending. 

*flips table* 

Three stars for no reason other than how much I really wanted to love this. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

ifoundcallie's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I feel like if you read this book as a literacy fiction novel with a lens towards social commentary in America, it is stunning. The layers and layers of metaphor on discomfort and humanity—so good! The author’s craft leads readers through a sociological exercise where they is forced to grapple with what it means to be part of the human race, particularly in the context of individualism in Western culture. The fact that the author took ALL OF THAT, and weaved it within the unraveling of a literal apocalypse (of which specifics are vastly unknown)….So. Damn. Good. I had chills multiple times and ran out of ink in my highlighter. 

Very reminiscent of Stephen King, particularly “Under the Dome”. If you liked that, you’ll love this. For people SOLELY looking for a thriller or commentary on race/social class, turn elsewhere…this book intentionally subverts the expectations of those genres. 

I love how the omniscient narrator stingily portioned out information, which shamefully left me feeling the same desperate NEED for information that the book was critiquing! 

There are a few times in this book where the writing could use some trimming/adjusting towards purpose—the heavy emphasis on certain carnal images felt self-righteous and cheap for the rest of the story. Honestly, this is the only thing that keeps this book from being a “perfect” book for me. This pitfall is reminiscent of Stephen King’s writing, again, which makes sense knowing that the author reread Pet Semetary while editing this book. I can only read so many descriptions of bored and worn out married couples “tumbling into the only comfort: of flesh smacking against flesh” or teenage male characters and their detailed descriptions of “spit-in-hand, spurting release”, or adult men who are dumbstruck by their unexpected “large load of vitality and youth long gone”. I felt disappointed every time the book swung back to these tropes, faithfully. Yawn.

There are many passages/chapters in this novel that blew me away and can easily stand on their own as brilliant pieces of art. I would love to sit and analyze some of the turn-of-phrase, allusions, and imagery handpicked by this intelligent author. I was giddy with annotation, and this book rewards you for paying attention to these nuances of craft. Overall, I’m so glad I was recommended this book. It itched an “am I spiraling and paranoid or is the world ending” scratch that is often not done well. 

Bravo, Rumaan Alam.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

GRAPHIC dental related body horror, multiple descriptions of semen and masturbation

lizzym126's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder

kaylanoellesims's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

3.75 ⭐️ - intriguing and definitely gets you thinking - personally would have like more of a tied up ending but I guess that’s is also against the point of the book 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal death and Excrement

javabones's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

I thought this was going to be a thriller/mystery but it turned out to be a disaster in itself. Finished it out of stubbornness and hope that it would go somewhere. It did not. The writing style draggggged on and it was so bizzare and full of gross sex details?? It was so bad it was funny, after you got over how uncomfortable it was. It deserves a lot of trigger warnings, which makes it seem interesting, but literally nothing happens.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

rphalange's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content

carissa230's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

3.5

 Amanda and Clay take their family on a little getaway in the woods. The house is isolated and they are spending time as a family. In the middle of the night there is a knock at the door.

Ruth and GH are running from whatever is happening in the rest of the state. They go straight to their house and convince Amanda and Clay to let them in to stay.

There is something happening. Animals are acting strangely, they're feeling ill, and there is a huge blackout. Although they maintain their electricity there is clearly something going on.

The book was compelling and easily readable. The fear of the unknown was real for these characters. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Confinement and Racism

kbergsten's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gore, Racism, and Medical content