Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

23 reviews

alexa_gee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I suppose the only way to put it is that this book is about humanity in the face of hardship and just how cruel fate can be. What I found interesting while reading was - and this is quite bizzare, I think - how I loved the title more and more and how it perfectly encapsulates this book about fate and how people are drawn to each other in difficult times. 
I don't normally like books about "friendship" but this was beautiful and it really touched my heart. Bridie and Julia latch onto each other from the minute they meet- they just have this beautiful bond and mutual respect for one another that neither appeared to have really experienced before which was interesting to read about.
I just have to include a quote (for my old English teachers, of course).  

"I had this peculiar conviction that she'd want me to keep Barnabas White out of the pipe."

I include it because I cannot get it out of my head. I'm not sure what it is that sticks it in my mind. I believe it is that the quote directly links to every theme in this book: duty before self, friendship, fate, how people are drawn to each other.

I just wanted to mention also that this book is full of nice little historical details and fun facts that are certainly not out of place but are a nice way to learn a bit of medical history. 

I had to deduct half a star just because I found it quite hard to get into, but once I was in it, I was in it.

That blurb is a bit ranty, but I hope you can bear with me on that front (I'm trying to write more reviews to improve my analysing and writing skills so they should improve over time?). I hope your heart breaks as much as mine does. This book is painful, there is no pretending it isn't, but it is beautiful and inspiring because of the pain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Vomit, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

kaarna's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

maddiet425's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Vomit, and War

Minor: Misogyny

carolinebrooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Excrement, Blood, and Child abuse

absolutive's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This novel, set in a maternity/fever ward in Dublin in 1918, did not pull me in right away. I twice started it and had trouble focusing. But on the third try I found it riveting, reading it in two days. The novel is set over the course of three days and follows Nurse Julia Power as she cares for pregnant women with the Great Influenza. Each day she improvises, saves lives and is powerless to stop death, using her knowledge and experience and kindness in an utterly overwhelmed and devastated health system. Also in the novel is the real life activist and doctor Kathleen Lynn whose own mastery in politics and medicine rise above Nurse Power, but who is also powerless at times, both in the hospital and against the police; the young, exploited and utterly effective, competent and sympathetic Bridie Sweeney; the whole system of Catholic control over morality, women's bodies, and the babies of poor and unwed mothers; the women on the ward, who along with Nurse Power, Bridie and Dr. Lynn form a small community, constrained by War, Pandemic, British Imperialism and cruel Catholic morality, living, caring and dying together. 

The novel not only explores the stories of people often left untold--poor women in Dublin, children of the unwed, for example--but also queer stories in an unusual and highly effective way. No one would call this a queer novel, I think, but by the end of the novel one must say that it is the story of four queer people living in Dublin when people didn't talk openly about this. This realisation occurs slowly and it's implicit, it's something the novel is lightly building towards but which does not emerge on the ward, hidden from view, like these lives themselves, but which, like the hidden stars, pulls the narrative forward. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Excrement, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

carlybellesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

kayleyhyde's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Vomit, Pedophilia, and Mental illness

mgraves89's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Vomit

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is about a nurse working in a makeshift maternity ward in Ireland during the Spanish flu pandemic. The medicine parts of it were interesting (though not for the faint-hearted) and I liked most of the characters, though there are a few that I wish had gotten a bit more screen time. A lot of social issues in Ireland at the time are brought up and discussed in a way that mostly feels organic. 

The last third was just too much for me though, way too soap opera-ish for me with all the romance and drama crammed into two days. After the weight of the rest of the book it felt kind of silly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, and Vomit

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide, and Trafficking

unphilosophize's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I Cannot currently express to you how much I loved this book. 
It is tragic and emotional. 
I really enjoyed all the obstetrics in the book, especially as my mum was a nurse in the nicu 
Great characters
I’ll think about this book a lot 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Homophobia, and Gore

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry