Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

89 reviews

show_no_mercy's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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

5.0

This book gave me depression but it was so well written I forgive it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma and Death

bookish_bry's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

I really was engaged with this book which is somewhat of a surprise since I didn't connect to the characters that well (which is usually a sticking point for me). I just loved the slow reveal and the show not tell thing Ishiguro did. I could tell from very near the start what type of thing was going on, but the characters themselves as children were oblivious. It was a very well handled mystery and I think the ending fit it very well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

amalielisabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Medical trauma

ellievelazquez's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

klutzy347'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Infertility, Bullying, and Sexual content

stbyleth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A really compelling and thoughtful read. Truly does this manage to consider some questions of ethics and morality. The ending is bittersweet and sad but it was more about the in between than the ending, and Cathy knows that too. 

I enjoyed that this book presented information like a puzzle to be solved. The narration allowed such information to be digested easily. Some people have said that there's too many loose ends, but I disagree; this book sets out to ask the reader specific questions and does it really well. The overall world building is negligible in a book like this, so you don't need to know everything. 

I really recommend this book. I read it for a book club and I'm glad I did. Very thought provoking, poignant, and relevant today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

Minor: Infertility

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

Basically the quiet, artsy, English version of Michael Bay’s The Island. TBH I kinda prefer Bay’s version with car chases & explosions 3👩🏼‍🍼

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infertility, Medical content, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Terminal illness

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book once before, as a child, but I forgot how much it hurts. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and begging the reader to confront and understand a horrifying ethical dilemma within the view of a pastoral childhood, this book is one that I will never be able to forget and one which will never stop hurting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Sexual content, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Classism and Cancer

stitcho's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Death

Minor: Cancer

dovewrites's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

 I remember reading a piece of writing advice recently, about how so many authors get tragedy and trauma wrong. That many stories seem to display trauma just for shock. This book executed tragedy in the most profound and beautiful way. As the advice I read stated, Ishiguro managed to do sadness with the audience, not to the audience.

the catharsis of this story is that these three people who were not considered people by the world they lived in mattered, their love mattered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Medical trauma and Medical content