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Reviews tagging 'Medical content'
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
7 reviews
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Dysphoria
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mass/school shootings
Minor: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
The concept, the narrative, the cast of diverse characters and stories, the vivid and immersive descriptions of Istanbul
What I disliked:
The sheer amount of trauma, which almost started feeling like sensationalism, especially when accompanied with little to no reflection on it. (I wish I had read the trigger warnings before hand.) How much the first part slogged in comparison to the second and third parts.
It was a good read but does not make me motivated to read other works by Shafak.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Self harm, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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⏳ The plot: Our main character is Leila. Vibrant, defiant, vital; after being rejected by her family she flees to Istanbul where she makes a living as a sex worker, gathering a disparate group of friends around her to become a second family. She is murdered on the first page. The rest of the novel traces her thoughts in the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after her heart stops beating, and her friends’ efforts to put her peacefully to rest.
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This is a bookstagram favourite and I can certainly see why. From the first page the writing is amazing - there were so many phrases that I underlined or starred because they seemed so peculiar and true. You come to care deeply about each of the characters, and the structure the book is told in is intriguing and compels you forward. Honestly I think it’s really remarkable.
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That said, I would love to read some reviews from any trans readers who picked this up - one of the best characters in the whole thing is Nalan, a trans woman who is one of the band of friends that rally around Leila in Istanbul. Leila meets Nalan before she starts transitioning, and at this point he/him pronouns are used. This makes sense in the context of their meeting, but then there’s one part in the second half of the novel where he/him pronouns were used to refer to Nalan that I just found jarring, to the extent that I wonder if it’s a typo! If anyone has read any reviews from trans readers that deal with this aspect of the novel I would love to read them.
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🌊 Read it if you love stories about deep friendships, and omnipotent narration that gives you a bird’s eye view of a story.
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🚫 Avoid it if you’re avoiding stories that include sexual assault, paedophilia, transphobia, violence, and grief. I’d really recommend looking up content warnings for this one if you’re in any doubt about it!
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Self harm, Medical content
Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Transphobia, Police brutality
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma