Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Sign for Home by Blair Fell

9 reviews

greatestheights's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Medical content, and Medical trauma

kimveach's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book!  I wish I could find these characters and become their friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Cancer, Homophobia, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Child abuse, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Rape, Medical content, Sexual assault, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, and Sexual content

bel017's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

Arlo is DeafBlind, and sheltered in a bad way. He meets Cyril--a new (to Arlo) interpreter--when he starts a class to improve his English. Cyril teaches Arlo about his rights, and advocates for him. The blurb on GR/SG/the back of the book captures maybe the last quarter of the book. Needs a much better blurb.

I hadn't realised there was neglect, confinement and emotional abuse of a child on the page. I wouldn't have read it if I'd realised, so I skipped all those sections as best I could. Lots of fascinating, terrible and excellent information about the DeafBlind community, wrapped in a challenging but heartfelt story. By the time I realised the triggers I was in too deep and had to find out what happened.

I was shocked at how many parents of Deaf children don't learn sign language. The idea that they ... choose not to? Don't have the resources to? I don't understand. Everything was distressing.

I didn't realise this had been listed as a romance. It's not really a romance, it's a bildungsroman (coming of age story).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Confinement, and Terminal illness

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Cancer, Excrement, Outing, Blood, and Sexual harassment

stacy837's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cursing, Ableism, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Self harm

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death of parent, Rape, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Sexual content

lanamosk's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

brittacalypse's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism and Religious bigotry

Minor: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

jenlovesbooksandcoffee's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Bullying, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Ableism, and Cursing

Moderate: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Cancer

savvyrosereads's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Out April 5, 2022 [Huge thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!]

The Sign for Home is the story of Arlo Dilly, a twenty-three year old man searching for love, who also happens to be DeafBlind. When Arlo learns that the things he believes about himself, his disability, and his past may not be the whole story, he enlists his new interpreter, Cyril, to help right the wrongs of the past and find the love he thought he had already lost.

I was so excited when The Sign for Home showed up at my door, both because I had been seeing it everywhere and because the synopsis sounded right up my alley, and fortunately it lived up to all my expectations. The novel starts off a bit slowly, and features chapters written in second person (which I’ve actually never encountered before!) and quite a bit of dialogue written in Deaf/ASL syntax, all of which meant it took me a little bit to get in the “groove” of reading. But, once I was there, I was fully captivated—the characters are fantastic and dynamic, each with their own faults and foibles but equally easy to love (well, in most cases!), and the plot is straightforward but with enough mystery and surprise to keep readers engaged.

This isn’t necessarily an easy read—I was heartbroken and furious on the characters’ behalf several times—but it is one of the most unique and enthralling stories I’ve encountered this year (or any year). If you want an uplifting-but-honest story that will make you smile, cry, laugh, and think, I highly recommend picking this up when it releases in April.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: unique writing styles; thought-provoking narratives; memorable characters.

CW: Ableism; homophobia; forced institutionalization; medical abuse; gaslighting; mentions of sexual assault accusations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Ableism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual assault