Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

5 reviews

caro6408's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Blood, Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug use, Addiction, and Vomit

jolyne's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

To be honest, I loved it. There are so many valid criticisms about this book — specifically about how he talks about his patients and how frankly he confronts the mistakes of his past — so I understand why plenty of people DNF from finding his personality borderline detestable. I must say though, that when reading a memoir about someone at the end of their intense and complicated career, I would much rather feel as though I am traversing their genuine reflections (however disturbing) than feel like I’m wading through a revisionist novel that reimagines the author in the most self-congratulatory light imaginable. 

Of course, it gets intense. It’s uncomfortable to read about how a medical professional regards his patients and to be faced with a lack of compassion that we typically expect doctors to have, but that’s also a story that has to be told. As people who are not surgeons, many of us just choose to place our confidence in the doctors that we’re told to have faith in. It’s interesting to then be placed on the other side of the looking glass and forced to confront the unspoken truths that we try to avoid thinking about, and Marsh makes for a funny and sardonic guide. Elaborating on how there’s almost a certain necessary level of sociopathy that brain surgeons need in order to be able to stomach operating on such uncertain cases, he also takes time to regard his colleagues who aren’t in neurosurgery with what feels like a sense of envy, love, and respect, saying that they were much too nice to ever succeed in his field.

As somebody who reads a lot of non-fiction, I also always appreciate when the writing style opts for being accesible instead of being ridiculously indulgent (we get it guys, you’re smart and have a lot to say blah blah). This is a book that I would be comfortable recommending to most people, in part because of how conversational Marsh’s writing is but mostly for the gripping content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Drug use

emily_p1's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Cancer

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, and Gore

fluffy1st's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent

kfquarium's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Blood, Chronic illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Suicide attempt