Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry

19 reviews

murdoch's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I hated this so much. First time reading anything by this author and definitely won’t pick up anything else she’s written. I have no idea why this book is rated so highly.

The writing felt amateurish, all tell and no show. It was completely lacking in subtlety and, honestly, skill. I thought the depictions of mental illness were extremely heavy-handed and excessively trope-y; the repeated graphic descriptions of self-injury seemed gratuitous and served no purpose in terms of plot or characterisation. 

First plot twist was so predictable, I didn’t understand if the reader was meant to be shocked or not. The final reveal was kind of like, “okay and?”. By that point I just wanted it to be over and the ending fell as flat as the characters felt. 

Reading the author’s bio I thought she would be able to write about the sensitive topics in this book in a way that doesn’t feel exploitative or ignorant. So much of the book came across like it had been written by someone who’d just discovered what mental illness is; concepts that (to me at least) seemed relatively basic were written about like they were revolutionary. The author also presented details so clinically that at times it felt like reading a case study rather than a fictional book. I felt sometimes like I was sitting in a high school psychology class or a lecture. 

Some of the characters, specifically the protagonist’s therapist and her doctor, seemed like mouthpieces for the author to “show off” what she knows about mental illness, trauma etc. But the information wasn’t even impressive or engaging? 

Descriptions of some of the female patients on the psych ward were unnecessary, seemed like the author just wanted to shit on a particular kind of woman. Again, this seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. We get the usual, done-to-death scene during group therapy on the psych ward where one patient’s meltdown triggers the rest. Yawn.

Given the author’s background, I was hoping for a more unique perspective on the topics at hand. The story was a telling of mental illness that was at best boring and at its worst irresponsible and misinformed.

Overall, the characterisation and the relationships between characters were weird and unbelievable. The plot was obvious, anti-climactic and tired.

It gets one star for the concept and even that I give begrudingly.

In short: this book did nothing new and, worse, did it badly. Hated it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, and Dysphoria

paigeemma's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

anna_fyodorovna's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

snapeygan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Should definitely come with a trigger warning! Except that, I adored the book, but was less attached to the story/characters than with Saving Noah, but couldn’t tell u why. Once again, Berry’s writting is flawless and totally on point. I love the fact that she was actually a therapist, and love to think she was a bit like Lisa. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

a_coop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Suicide, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

emzee93's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

nabaraditi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization