Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

14 reviews

hunkydory's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Hate crime, Grief, Slavery, Death, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Medical trauma

Moderate: War

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

Another book that I am woefully inept to review. Toni Morrison's books are modern classics, but Beloved is... transcendent. I guess I will start by saying that I don't do ghost stories. I am at a point in my life where I know what freaks me out and I don't need to expose myself to those things. This is most certainly a ghost story (not a spoiler, it's in the synopsis). And the ghost is scary. She's not a nice ghost. No Caspers here. However, I didn't feel the need to put this book down or not read it before bed at any point. I wasn't scared by the ghost. The rest of the story on the other hand... It's almost as though Ms. Morrison was trying to contrast the horrors of slave life with the horrors of living with a violent poltergeist. And for Sethe and Denver, the horrors and consequences of slave life were so, so much worse. There were innumerable other themes and topics explored in this book, and the narrative style was very unique, in Ms. Morrison's classic way. It took me much longer than usual to read a book of this length, due to the incredible complexity of the work and the different facets to explore. I'm sure I'm missing so much, but what I did grasp, I will be thinking about and ruminating on for a long time.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Mental illness

sweetmusic22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was the first time I've ever read any of Toni Morrisson's work. I've always been told that her work is beautiful but challenging (mentally, emotionally, and physically). By the time I got to start reading the book, it had taken me a while before I could really grasp Beloved's themes. 

Pros: I loved the way that Toni incorporated poetry and metaphors in this book. Beloved is unlike any other story about racism and slavery that I've heard/read. One of my favorite parts of the book is when she talks about how her dead baby granddaughter haunts Beloved's character. For me, it opens up conversations about why it can be hard for people to escape their traumas. You learn from Beloved's experience what it's like to experience the pain and trauma of being a different skin color and experience what it's like to lose a child during childbirth. Beloved also opens up conversations about sexual assault and how it mentally affects people in a certain capacity. 

Cons: A lot of the subject matter is a lot to handle, and the story is very slow-paced, so I had to take a lot of my time with this book. It took me a whole year to actually finish Beloved. 

In conclusion, I gave this book 4.5 stars. I thought the book was so beautiful, powerful, and well-done. However, if you really want to read this book, you have to be prepared to take a lot of time with it. For me, I did 2 pages one day and then 3 pages the next. Then, I would do that as a routine with it until I was finished (today). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Child death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death