Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

61 reviews

whatsamanthadoes's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Read for a book club.

Very interesting dystopian premise. Lena drops out of college to pay family debts by working for a government research program.

She has to sign an NDA and weird/brutally things are done to her and other participants. Or is it all just a dream?

Lena continued to endure these trials because of her devotion to her family. While I wish we would have got to know the characters a bit better, I really loved Lena, Charlie, and Deziree. I loved that Lena gave silly names for the people that worked at Lakewood. It caught me by surprise that the book change formats at times. There were parts in this book that had me ill (

teeth, mushrooms, apricots to name a few!

). There were parts about medical racism and preying on those in a financial crisis. 

All of her dreams circled around the idea that she was having pieces of her taken or destroyed even when she would try to get them to see that she is a real person.

I wish there was a little more resolution in the ending, but

I'm interested to read Megan Giddings' future books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Murder, Death, and Medical content

snazzy10101's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Gun violence, Hate crime, Confinement, Gore, Rape, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Racism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.0

I’m probably too stupid for this book. I loved the commentary about the very real history of medical experimentation on Black people (especially women) in America, but the narrative style was over my head. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Racism

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, and Chronic illness

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I think if there was ever going to be a book that gives me nightmares, it’s Lakewood. 

After losing her grandmother and struggling to care for her ailing mother and deal with mountains of debt, Lena accepts an offer to participate in a research study that seems too good to be true. It pays well, offers full coverage health insurance for her mother, and would set them up comfortably if she can just last a year. The studies claim to be changing the world, but the white scientists don’t seem to care much what happens to the Black test subjects along the way. Maybe not much has changed after all. 

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into reading Lakewood, but it was so much more and so much worse (in a good way) than I was expecting. It is shocking, it is horrifying, and worst of all, it feels entirely plausible. My jaw dropped, my heart raced, my head spun. This may not be labeled as horror, but it absolutely is, and it’s horror done WELL. Lakewood is going to sit with me for a long, long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Confinement, Physical abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Stalking, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Gore, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol and Trafficking

mudlizard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Ableism, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Confinement, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cancer

nicolemhill's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Medical content

habitualrereader's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism

alchamp's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, Racism, Murder, Chronic illness, and Medical content

hillysreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

lillieslibraryy's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

This was so disappointing. I enjoyed parts of it, but it left so many topics unexplored that would have added so much more to the plot. I feel it would have benefited from being a longer book, that way it could better explore the mother and grandmother's connections to the story and the medical research program. 

When it came to the study the MC was participating in, it covered so many different aspects. We had psychological tests on the people, drugs and medications being tested on them and physical tests. There was also tests being conducted on children that we saw play out which was never fully explained. We also got a glimpse of different plants being made and saw talking animals (which I'm assuming aren't just animals). So many of these different experiments weren't explained or looked at deeper, I wish it had gone into more depth on what these were. 

We also got hints at what the mother and grandmother had to do with the research studies, which was left very open ended. I wish we had more that explained their involvement rather than being left questioning. 

The end of the book also felt very rushed and anticlimactic. I feel what happened in the end, was the government using it as a cover up to hide their experiments and draw attention away from themselves, I just wish it was built up more and explored a bit more. 

I feel the way the book played out was very real for the character and reflected how she felt after everything and the lack of information she had access to. However, as a reader I wish we were shown more of what was going on as this left with me with unanswered questions, than answers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Racism