Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

17 reviews

laurenmiller100's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

I loved this. Most of the stories left me gobsmacked and excited to talk about them with friends to really dissect the ideas. This compilation is excellent. As always, I love Ted Chiang’s commentary on where each story came from.

Favorites: The Tower of Babylon, Division by Zero, The Story of Your Life, Hell is the Absence of God, Liking What You See: A Documentary

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture

malaikawrites's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

This was absolutely wonderful! Every story held its own, nut all together? All together it was dynamic, thought provoking and world-view shifting. It was a holistically powerful collection and I'm so glad I decided to pick it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death and Suicide

Minor: Racial slurs and Sexism

kimbo8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, War, Medical trauma, Grief, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Misogyny

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

😱 I'm not usually an anthology girly, but this absolutely slapped. Almost all of the stories were highly rated, but Story of Your Life will definitely stick with me. I need to read Exhalation, like, now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Bullying

greenrequiem's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

loujanae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective

Every time I finished a story, I would look at my cat and say "well that was weird." 

Three stand out stories: 
Tower of Babylon
Story of Your Life
Hell is the Absence of God

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Murder

ryyy27's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Violence

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging reflective fast-paced

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

I've wanted to read this short story collection since 2016 when I fell in love with the movie "Arrival", by Denis Villeneuve. It's inspired by "Story of your Life", which features here. I really loved it. In regards to the narrator's daughter, it's less dramatic than the movie version, which I really enjoyed. In the movie, I've always felt that part was a bit too much (even though it did make me cry). However, I think the movie format was maybe better suited to the whirlwind of emotions that builds up as you understand what's happening for the narrator, linguist Louise Banks. In that perspective, the short story was a little more factual.

As for the rest of the stories, I don't have anything negative to say. They're all built on a strong idea, and efficiently executed. I have to admit that a couple of them went way beyond my ability to understand what was going on because of the blend of science & philosophy. And the ending of the first story "Tower of Babylon", was a slight disappointment because I'd read a similar thing elsewhere. But on the whole it's book I'd really recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Car accident

One of the story is all about discrimination on the basis of beauty, and another one features eugenism.

stargirlmolly's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Terminal illness and Suicidal thoughts

leftandleaving_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide