Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

29 reviews

ezulc's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Transphobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal death

grommit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Emotional and brilliant

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, War, and Rape

Minor: Racism, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

Another book club read, and I'm glad I was put onto this one, as I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with it. This is a beautifully woven tale of .. uhm, nerds in World War II.

Werner is a snow-haired German lad who was orphanned by the mines of the Reich. As a curious child he develops himself into an electrical engineer who specializes in fixing radios, and is noticed by a German general who forwards him for advancement in an elite military school.
Marie-Laure is the daughter of keymaster of the French museum. She develops cataracts and goes blind as a child, and her father crates a scale model of her neighbourhood as a tactile map for her to learn her way around.
When the war starts, Marie-Laure and her father flee to her uncle's house, and Werner is a radio engineer for Hitler's army.

This story is told with deep emotional resonance, and using all sorts of literary quirks that focus on themes of light and darkness, sounds, sensation, fear and bravery, morality, logic and puzzles, knowing and learning, art and music, the love of nature, and of people. I love the descriptions of things like disappearing in fog– that it's about vanishing into whiteness rather than shadows.  The descriptions are visceral and evocative as well as clever.

This is a story of survival, of war, of fear and bloodshed, and it doesn't pull its punches. It certainly answers, in a humane way, questions about how people can do inhuman things in war, and the toll it can take on families.

I found the going slow, and occasionally tense, but also full of whimsy and beauty in contrast.
Well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Grief, War, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Excrement, Death, Child death, Blood, Antisemitism, Vomit, Torture, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Cancer, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Confinement, Chronic illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Classism, and Bullying

lwelch94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Violence, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Hate crime, Genocide, Ableism, Xenophobia, War, Antisemitism, Bullying, Rape, Mental illness, Confinement, and Death

vas_17's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Ableism, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Antisemitism, Cancer, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, War, Xenophobia, and Violence

snowwpuppet's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, Murder, Bullying, Confinement, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Excrement, Drug use, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Sexual assault

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Cancer, Bullying, Sexual assault, Child death, Blood, Violence, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Grief, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent

traumatic brain injury related memory loss and intellectual disability

melancholymegs's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Antisemitism, Child death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Death of parent

rachelmorag's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Deportation, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, War, Rape, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Confinement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

lauradanby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A deeply moving and beautiful book. I appreciated how short each chapter was - only a few pages - as this made it easy to read the book when I was quite busy. I love how the novel explores the complexities of people, not categorising or making clear distinction between good and evil.

This is done to the extent where we see it as a tragedy when Werner is killed towards the end of the novel, despite him being a Nazi.

Bird obsessed Frederick is an example of how one can get caught in a system, and despite having morals and choosing free will over blind obedience, he suffers the consequences.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Cancer, Violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Genocide, and Death