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Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
22 reviews
daffodilcherry's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Harry August lives an ordinary life, only to find that when he dies, he is instead born again, with all his memories of his past life intact. Centuries of his lifelong timeloop later, he is warned that the world is ending faster, and sets about trying to find out why and to maybe stop it.
I loved so much about this book, the plot, the fucked up timeloop ethics, the quantum physics, the various settings and scenes, the characters, and as I said, Peter Kelley turned this into an absolute amazing piece of art. This is what happens when you hire crazy talented voice over actors for your epic historical sci-fi audiobooks!!! Do NOT adjust the speed and instead revel in Kelly's mastery!
I was absolutely hooked from the get go on this book, and the final third was so hard to put down (to sleep or like work lol). Definitely a top book for the year.
Wheelhouse items: fucked up timeloop ethics!!!, large cast, quantum physics but explained in a way that you can actually understand, my friend my enemy, secret societies.
Triggers (it's a very dark book at times): lots of torture, like there's quite a lot, medical institutionalisation, suicide, dying, murder, cancer, AIDS, electroshock, opiate use,
Graphic: Suicide, Addiction, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Child death
kadtide's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Torture, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Drug use, and War
Minor: Cancer and Child death
justdiana's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Stalking, Drug use, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Mental illness, Violence, Addiction, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, Rape, Suicide, and War
jennswan's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, Gore, Torture, Suicide, Abortion, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, and Medical content
andrealinia's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault, War, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization
spookyaz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Confinement, and Torture
Moderate: Death, War, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Abortion, Cancer, and Toxic relationship
carina_dreamer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
⏳ Harry August é o nosso narrador, ele vai falar das suas várias vidas num formato semelhante a um diário. Ele pensava ser um ser humano e viveu uma vida típica de um britânico nascido em 1920, mas tudo mudou quando ele morre e volta a renascer como Harry August e com as memórias da sua 1ª vida. A partir daí, ele vai tentar perceber que abominação ele é e só vai encontrar um rumo à sua vida imortal quando descobre o nome Kalachakra.
⏳ Na 3ª foto eu indico os pontos principais do livro, mas deixem-me contar-vos que a quantidade de conteúdo e pesquisa postos neste livro para falar de momentos e monumentos históricos assim como descobrimentos científicos, tudo a nível mundial, é vasta. Para quem leu "Babel" e gostou do valor informativo/educativo, também vai gostar deste livro porque é tudo inserido no enredo e não feito como info dump.
⏳Esta pode ser uma leitura intimidante também pela edição em si.
• 1º conselho que dou, não leiam a introdução sobre a história da sci-fi que colocaram lá por whatever reason (mata logo os neurónios).
• 2º conselho, leiam o livro aos poucos porque ele tem uma letra bem pequena e apesar de capítulos curtos (são 82...) estes são bem lentos de ler - demorei um mês.
• 3º conselho, usem post-its para se orientarem no enredo porque há muitos time jumps para justificar certas escolhas do protagonista com experiências das suas diferentes vidas, a mim ajudou.
• 4º conselho, ele demora 100 pág. até nos dar as primeiras pistas do rumo da estória e outras 100 até o Harry começar a agir como um protagonista numa missão. Eu normalmente não tenho paciência para tal, mas vale muito a pena aguentar.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ eu li a última página múltiplas vezes, mas só fez sentido quando lá cheguei e foi um 🤯 que desvenda toda a razão de ser do livro e apaixonei-me!
Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Genocide, Death of parent, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape, Abortion, War, Addiction, and Animal death
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
The story is that of a person who lives again after dying (what I call "Groundhog life"). As someone who has read and watched quite a few timey-wimey stories this was fairly familiar ground. I noticed information that I had picked up recently from recently reading Catch-22 and Midnight in Chernobyl, and there is at least one reference to Back to the Future.
This is a book that grazes themes of anthropogenic climate change (without dwelling on it) and wonders at what would have happened if the pace of change we have gone through over the last 200 years, had been even faster. It almost hints at the question of whether this is what has happened for us to be in the situation we are now. I'm glad that the cast of characters isn't focused on one part of the world, but rather, spans every continent, with characters from China, Nigeria, the Americas, Russia, various bits of the UK, and all over.
On a personal level, the main character is burdened with living his life with few interpersonal relationships. He floats along aloof of what is going on and suffers many of the same ills as other immortal fantasy characters. It does mean that relationships he develops are sometimes dysfunctional or toxic. He also remembers his own deaths and the horrible things that he has happen to him and has to take a proactive approach to his own self-care for the sake of his mental health.
Interesting book. At times terrible, and at times inspirational, but I feel like if I go into more detail it will spoil things.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Torture, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, Suicide, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: War, Stalking, and Rape
Minor: Infertility
sakisreads's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
1.5
So yes. High expectations were there and were not met unfortunately 🥲
Harry August drags on… and on… and on… I really had to pull through the first 50%. It then started picking up a bit and I was hopeful again, before the dragging resumed at 60% 😫
I had to skim through so much of it; it was so unfortunate.
1.5 out of 5 stars for me unfortunately ✨ Sorry!
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Torture
pastlifetragedy's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Drug use, Abortion, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death, Torture, and Suicide
Moderate: Violence, War, Vomit, and Rape
Minor: Bullying and Classism