Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

10 reviews

seawarrior's review against another edition

4.0

Death in Her Hands is an eerie, winding novel that introduces you to the spiraling mind of an unreliable narrator. By the end of the book we are left with more questions than answers, though I still enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to others looking to get lost in something strange. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Terminal illness

joensign's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Fatphobia, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

oliviah1111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is very very slow paced. from what i understand, it was only over the span of 2-3 days. i enjoyed it either way, but there are some weird elements i didnt like.

there was random hints of fatphobia, and what kind of felt like fetishization of foreign women. this may be because of the narrator being an older woman, but it seemed to be the writers opinion sneaking through especially with the weird comments about fat people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Cancer, Fatphobia, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Body shaming, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Alcohol

eversnow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Fatphobia, and Terminal illness

lycaenide's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.5

I struggled to get into this, then at the half way mark I raced to the end only to be left literally saying "what the f*" out loud. I'm thoroughly confused, unsatisfied and left with a disgusting taste in my mouth. I read this as someone I follow online said it was a favourite of the last year, but I must be really missing something.

Full breakdown under spoilers: 

Characters: 5/10
The narrator was both likeable and unlikeable, and really well crafted. It felt like you were inside someone's head. I liked the fact that the narrator was elderly.

Atmosphere: 6/10
Really atmospheric descriptions of the woods, and by the end I was on edge just from the setting.

Writing style: 6/10
The writing itself was wonderful. It felt like this character had just unloaded her unconscious mind onto the page in a way that was engaging, if wildly confusing.

Plot: 1/10
Absolutely what the f*. What was that ending. I had to skim it because that is my most hated trope and I'm so bitter that that's how this story ended and I wasn't forewarned. I'm not a stranger to endings that aren't neatly wrapped up, and this reminded me of Earthlings, how you didn't know what was real or not. But I must be missing something because I have no clue what happened. 

Intrigue: 5/10
The first half was relatively boring but then it really picked up in intrigue.

Logic: 1/10
I think we can all agree that there was no logic here. 

Enjoyment: 1/10
The little spark of enjoyment I felt once the story picked up was squashed by the ending. This is obviously not the book for me. Honestly I wish I could throw it across the room but my copy is from the library. 

Overall rating: 3.57/10

I'm ignoring the balanced CAWPILE rating for this one and going off vibes. Basically, out of 5, it gets a point to acknowledge the writing ability and a half point for having an elderly protagonist and that's it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Classism, Fatphobia, Vomit, and Excrement

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Addiction

akadie's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.75

At first I stopped reading the book, because it started slow and then made quite a few fat phobic comments that I did not see the point in. However, the other reviews on here intrigued me to at least continue a little further. After finishing the Story, it is really interestingly written. However still a rather slow development with the fat phobia continuing throughout.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Death, and Grief

hanreadin's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Death, and Fatphobia

Minor: Abortion

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Excrement, and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide attempt and Infidelity

sofiiaclaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Cancer, Excrement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence

frenchtoast_n_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

This book wasn't quite for me though I can appreciate it. 

Moshfegh is eloquent and I love how committed she is to writing a strong character with a unique personality. I love that the main character is very unreliable in her narration.....but that's about all I loved and enjoyed when it comes to this story. 

I wanted more from the Magda mystery then we were given and less past reflection of Vesta. The lengthy chapters and paragraphs also made me struggle to read this without falling asleep within minutes. Lastly, Vesta is such a problematic character that also hindered my reading experience. She is fat phobic, misogynistic, and classist to a toxic level. 

This decent into loneliness, grief, and aging gives a mystery premise the addition of metaphysical exploration that could be just what readers are after if you are okay with the things I had issues with. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Cancer, Medical content, and Terminal illness