Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

19 reviews

oliviajoreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Rape, War, Vomit, and Terminal illness

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Even with the weird plot structure that kept confusing me (the book is written backward), I can’t discredit the way Jodi tells a story. The social commentary, the unexpected plot twist, the dissection of the human experience, and the understanding that everything is complex. This is a story about women. Their choices, their secrets, their battles, their love. Another stellar Picoult novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Abortion, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

gabbyreynolds's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault

nekobyyc's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

blueskies157's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, Incest, and Child abuse

madeleineg619's review

challenging 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? Yes

3.0

There a few iffy lines and unnecessary bits of plot, but overall a well-constructed and thought out story. Not an easy read, make sure to practice self care when reading this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

aoifeprettypurplepolkadots's review

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Abortion, Blood, Death, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Miscarriage

awells96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence

gemmascott's review

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was very brave to tackle such a divisive subject - abortion - and to offer explorations of so many different sides of the debate. It also showed the importance of access to women’s reproductive health care more broadly and how measures designed to prevent abortions actually have a much wider impact. 

However, I would have liked more discussion regarding the aftermath of the event, especially for some of the side characters. Similarly, I wasn’t a big fan of the book’s “backwards” structure - I found it quite repetitive and found myself growing impatient at times, as I felt myself becoming more and more detached from the plot. This had the effect of making me less interested in the characterisation, not more, as I just wanted to know what was happening! 

Altogether though, a nuanced look at a difficult, yet incredibly important topic. The author’a note at the end carried perhaps the most important message of the book - the fact that preventing access to legal abortion, will not make it stop, it will just put more women’s lives in danger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness