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nicolecoyle's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Confinement, Ableism, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Dementia and Fire/Fire injury
acarther23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
However, the protagonist of Ward D -- Amy -- is neither of those characters. She's naive, easily manipulated, and refuses to learn from her own idiotic actions. The book is told in a back-and-forth manner between her current self (a third-year medical student) and herself eight years ago (in high school). Somehow, in those eight years, she has not managed to grow or change in any significant way. She still fails to see the most obvious of red flags and falls for every single trick in the book. It's maddening to read a story in which the narrator keeps internally monologuing about how stupid she's been then does something even stupider two pages later. She makes bad, unethical decisions and justifies them to herself using childish logic. By the end of the book, I was practically begging for her to give in and die already so literally any other character could take over the narration and tell us how it ends.
My real issue with this book, though, is the portrayal of mental illness. I'm far from the first reviewer to bring this up, but it truly is an irresponsible representation. Mentally ill people in this novel are either violent, devious, and evil, or utterly clueless pity-receptacles. The protagonist is both, and yet still treats the other characters in an incredibly prejudicial way. The premise is also difficult to believe; there's simply no way that a hospital would ever have any ward, psychiatric or not, be completely inaccessible and unescapable at the same time.
Honestly, it's a pity because I could have seen this novel being a good vehicle for telling a story about mental illness and mistreatment within the medical system. The threads were there, but they weren't strung together. Instead, the author chose to focus on the shock value of having mentally ill characters do horrible things while our hapless heroine cried internally over whether or not she herself was "crazy", which evidently in her opinion was the worst possible thing one could ever be.
In sum: I had a lot of problems with this book. And yet, I was entertained by it, even as I felt the strongest urge to strangle the main character. Most of the twists were predictable, but a few weren't, at least to me. Not a total waste of time; could have been far better. Two stars.
Graphic: Ableism and Mental illness
nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Bipolar disorder doesn’t make you want to kill other people. Scizophrenia doesn’t make you want to kill people. These disorders are more harmful to the patient than the people around them. Cmon. Easy research. Totally inexcusable to write books like this in this day and age.
All in all, the way these patients are talked about gave me the ick.
Plus, the main character is just soooo unbearable. Hated her. I’m starting to see that it’s a pattern with Freida’s books. But the plot is usually so good, I keep on reading them.
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Mental illness, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content
azure_ecllpse's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Child abuse, and Ableism
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Mental illness, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, and Body shaming
sharlapeggy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Dementia, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Medical content
rsagarin's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Classism, Death, and Toxic friendship
greatestheights's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
marysaj's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Ableism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship