Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Wych Elm by Tana French

12 reviews

birdsandships's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug use, Terminal illness, Stalking, Death, Suicide, Medical trauma, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Cancer, Violence, and Murder

thesaggingbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

This was difficult for me to rate. The writing was great as usual and the characters were well developed but it dragged on and on for no real reason. Just because you’re a stellar writer doesn’t mean you need to use all the words!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Medical trauma, Bullying, Drug use, and Violence

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, and Stalking

The book covered a lot of sensitive topics but i didn’t feel like it was gratuitous in explanations or details.

allynat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Bullying, Death, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Self harm, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

seadeepy's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Blood, Ableism, Murder, Death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Hate crime, Cancer, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual assault, Stalking, Grief, Gaslighting, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

cfell's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Cancer, Dementia, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Classism, Death, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Minor: Self harm

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

2.0

Thanks, I hated it.

Let me start with the one redeeming quality of this book, Tana French can write a damn house! Just like the home in The Likeness, I could picture the Ivy House perfectly! It was cozy (until it wasn’t) and atmospheric and just so vibrantly written. 

But that skill is not enough to save this book. Not only is every single character (except Hugo, whom I felt affection for and wanted to see more of) unlikeable, but our protagonist is the *most* unlikeable of the bunch. Seriously. Irredeemably so. I guessed the killer prior to the reveal, but that’s not saying a whole lot as this book is SLOW. And lastly, though frankly most importantly, this book is ableist and fatphobic as FUCK. Like, jarringly so. I felt like I was constantly being pulled out of the story because I was taken aback by the ableist comments. Bad bad bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Fatphobia

ellipalmer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

It's hard to say much about what I liked about The Witch Elm without venturing into topics that feel like spoilers. It took about 150 pages to get to the meat of the story, which felt like a long time. If it were another author who I didn't know I might have felt annoyed, but in my experience Tana French knows what she's doing. While I still feel like the first 1/3 dragged a bit, pushing through definitely paid off. The writing is top knotch, French a master of plot and psychologically complex character development. I watched an interview with her where she said that she's less interested in "who did it" than "who the detective is" and the impact of the mystery/story on the person trying to work their way through it and find the truth. I think that's what makes her stories so good. You want to know who did it, but the payoff is deeper and longer lasting because solving the mystery doesn't put the world back in order. The detective is forever changed and solving the case doesn't bring the satisfaction and closure they hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

rileyreadsagain's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Dementia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, and Homophobia

Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Drug use

vanlaire's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

madzsmiled's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pregnancy and Self harm