Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

38 reviews

pages_and_cacti's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Dr. Evelyn Caldwell is an award winning geneticist. Martin’s is a genetically cloned replica created from her research by her Evelyn’s husband, Nathan. When Evelyn finds out that he is cheating on her with Martins, she leaves him. When Nathan turns up dead, both wives join together to clean up. 

My Thoughts: This was my first novel by Sarah Gailey and will be a fan from here on out. This one was a wild ride and really made you think about the ethical, moral and consequences of human cloning. It was a lot to wrap your head around at times but worth every minute of reading. The consequences of actions were well thought out. What an incredibly thought evoking novel.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma, Medical content, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy

lmenery's review

challenging dark reflective 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

5.0

This is a very thought provoking book. I  went back and forth with how I felt about Evelyn. Good book group book, lots of discussion possibilities.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma

anarchist_al's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I really liked the twists and turns of this novel. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing each character to life, and acting out more than just dialogue. I really loved the character arcs of Evelyn and Martine, and I was very satisfied with the ending. Evelyn as the narrator was rarely lovable, but she was brilliant and smart and so observant, and her moments of empathy were meaningful. This book was pretty science-heavy, but it never felt difficult to understand. I was riveted from start to finish!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical content, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity and Gaslighting

nyoom's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content

msjenne's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Vomit

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicide

shakakan's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexism, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse

mermaidsherbet's review

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Body horror

laurareads87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The plot of The Echo Wife follows Evelyn, a scientist engaged in research on the possibilities of human cloning, and Martine, a clone of Evelyn that, as the plot description for the book notes, is having a relationship with Evelyn's (ex-)husband.  The story is told from Evelyn's point of view; as a character, she is brilliantly written but a very uncomfortable mind for the reader to inhabit: she describes her 'subjects,' the living, breathing, sentient human clones she has created, in such cold terms ('medical waste'), refusing to even acknowledge very real ethical complexities involved in cloning that the reader absolutely cannot avoid facing.  At its heart, though, this book is about dehumanization -- the particular kinds of abuse that involve treating another as an instrument with a function rather than a person, that involve breaking another down with the clear intent of making them subservient rather than independent -- and, also, about survival.  This was a very emotional read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Grief

blakethebookeater's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse

rorikae's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.75

In 'The Echo Wife,' Sarah Gailey explores abusive relationships, the pressures put on women by society, and female friendship in a science fiction tinged thriller.
The story follows Evelyn Caldwell a revered scientist who has invented a process to clone humans. Despite her acclaimed career, Evelyn's personal life is far from golden. Her husband left her for a clone of herself that he created, minus all of the traits he considers flaws.  But when Martine, Evelyn's clone, calls Evelyn to tell her that her ex-husband is dead, Evelyn's life begins to unravel in ways she never expected.
Sarah Gailey is one of my favorite authors for their ability to create deep, nuanced novels that are near impossible to put down and 'The Echo Wife' is another demonstration of their skill. On the surface, this novel sounds like a domestic thriller with a near future edge, which it is. But this book is also so much more than that. It is a nuanced exploration of familial trauma, emotional abuse, personhood, and gender roles. The relationship between Evelyn and Martine allows Evelyn to explore parts of her past that she has never chosen to address while also creating dialogue about what makes a person. Each character is flawed and not necessarily lovable, but this makes them deeply human in a way that is sometimes painful to read. Gailey also adds in a good helping of twists and turns that pull the story along to a conclusion I found incredibly satisfying. This is a hard book but worth every page. Gailey is already an auto-buy author for me and 'The Echo Wife' cemented why I think everyone needs to be reading their work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Suicide