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Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Violence, Dementia, Classism
Minor: Mental illness
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Blood, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol
I found myself getting super irritated at the numerous times the word, “crazy,” was used. The main character, Amy, is super unlikeable and dense. She’s supposed to be a third year medical student, but she doesn’t know a lot of basic information that you would already know as during undergrad, such as “sundowning.” She is clearly not very smart, so I don’t know how she made it into her graduate program. By the end of the book, it appears that
I almost didn’t finish this book due to how the topic of mental health was covered. I also couldn’t suspend my disbelief on the unrealistic aspects of the ward or healthcare in general. I did appreciate when they sort of acknowledged that mentally ill patients are still people too.
Amy is very immature and has a terrible take on mental disorders. It does get reconciled in the end, but that reconciliation does demonize people who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. As someone with bipolar II, I felt irritated that the condition wasn’t accurately portrayed. I’ve had one horrible manic episode with psychosis and several hypomanic periods in my life, but it never led to violence on others. I wish it was clearly depicted that the mental disorders and the violent actions taken by the characters were separate issues.
The writing was clunky at times, and it read like a YA novel. Nothing wrong with that, but the characters certainly didn’t seem like they were mid-to-late twenty somethings. They felt more like teenagers. I definitely cringed at several lines sprinkled throughout the book. At other times, I loved the descriptions of the events unfolding.
All that being said, the twists were fun and interesting, albeit it left the story with plot holes. Focusing on them too much would have just taken my enjoyment away. I can see why people are a fan of McFadden’s writing overall. This is likely not her best work, though.
It’s a fun time, just don’t set your expectations high for realism and be prepared to roll your eyes at the main character’s inner thoughts and actions.
Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism
I noticed the reviews about Ward D are mixed, which I can understand. It becomes clear, early on, that our protagonist is an unreliable narrator. They’re not for everyone and sometimes a reader needs more patience to get through what seems like a potentially annoying character flaw. However, when you get through it, realise it’s an unreliable narrator, sometimes you can be so pleasantly surprised.
Amy, our protagonist, comes across as being very unsure of herself. She lacks confidence and, eventually, I suspected she had an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. I have anxiety myself. Reading Amy’s thoughts was akin to listening to my own thoughts. They weren’t the same, mind you, but they were exhausting. They were all over the place. I was like, “girl, you need some lexapro or something.” My thoughts and then Amy’s downward spiral was not a good mix. This was the point I had a break.
I enjoyed the other characters. They’re all very interesting, a little kooky, and questionable. About halfway through I didn’t trust any of the characters. I didn’t trust the main character. I had built up several theories and, in my experience, they’re usually right, but this time I was wrong! So wrong, and so good that I was!
Now, as someone who has a gazillion mental illnesses, I feel I can comment on the fact the story is set in a psychiatric ward (never had the actual experience though) with characters who have mental illness and disorders. I think, if you take things a certain way, you could be a tad offended by some of the mental illness portrayal. This is granted in some stories. However I don’t feel this is the way with Ward D. I feel the way McFadden wrote about diagnoses and treatment, from Amy’s perspective, was open-minded and in the positive. Amy actually learnt some things by the end of the story, which is great.
I found Ward D very easy to read. It grabbed my attention straight away and had momentum. If I was a person who was able to sit for long periods of time, and didn’t prize my sleep, I would have easily finished this book in one sitting. As it was, I finished it in just over one day, and still got my sleep. And now I want to read another McFadden novel.
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Medical content, Murder
Minor: Addiction, Dementia