Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Die stumme Patientin by Alex Michaelides

24 reviews

leggatkat's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Infidelity, Drug use, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Ableism

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Eating disorder

kwhitt78's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I’m mad about it, honestly. 

The ending was predictable from the start. The only thing that wasn’t was how long it had been. And even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still disgusted when it was revealed. It felt like we were idolizing this clearly fucked up person. Don’t even get me started on the anti-medication stance this book takes. It kept talking about how psychotherapy is the way patients should and deserved to be helped. Medicine can be a valid part of the healing process for mental health and in some cases is necessary. I hope people young people reading this don’t start to think their meds are bad for them. They are not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

irisheyz77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent and Grief

rosesofthespring's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

The main plot takes some interesting turns, but I didn't find the writing very engaging, especially in the chapters about Theo's home life. I actually started skipping them to get back to the Alicia sections faster. I know that decision dampened the conclusion, but the secondary plotline was so boring compared to the main mystery that I didn't want to slog through it. Part of this is definitely personal, I don't find 

cheating/infidelity

  plots specifically very engaging.

About halfway through the book, they started coming up with treatment ideas that should have been obvious from the beginning. For a small example: this guy was obsessed with a painting named after a Greek tragedy for several years, but it takes a tertiary character's suggestion for him to actually read the play.

The biggest issue I have is with Alicia's diary. 

How did she still have it? I know a few things about psych wards, and there's NO WAY she could have kept that thing hidden. She went through an entire high-profile murder case and managed to take a key piece of evidence with her into lockup? How? There's no privacy in a ward. I was expecting the journal to be hidden in the Alcestis somehow, because if it was in her studio it would have been found. I never expected it to be in the ward with her. Utterly ridiculous.

Lastly, this book throws in omniscient teasers like "I shouldn't get ahead of myself" and "I would soon find out that I was wrong" and "I had no way of knowing what was coming" all the time. It's way too often. You can get away with that once or twice, but when it's every other chapter, I start expecting the cover to say "Reader Beware!" You don't have to hook me into the premise anymore. I'm already reading the book.

Overall, this book has a solid grasp of mystery, but I was otherwise disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Ableism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

Other potential triggers: Stalking, victim blaming, gaslighting.