Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

A Biblioteca da Meia-Noite by Matt Haig

90 reviews

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

This is a fantastic read. It’s a perfect life affirming dramedy that tiptoes in the fantastical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, Mental illness, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Sexual content

There’s themes of generational suicide tendencies and alcoholism/drug abuse.

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

This book was completely unexpected for me. Going into it, I knew nothing but what the blurb says and that it is/was quite popular on BookTok. What I definitely did not expect was to read this in one sitting. It does have a couple of slight issues that had me wondering what the editor was doing, but those instances thankfully don't impact on the story itself. Apart from those minor issues, I found this book to be a very enjoyable read and will be returning to it again in the future. It has an intriguing premise at its heart which I haven't personally encountered before, and provided a fascinating way to gain perspective on life. Indeed, at several points, I found myself wondering if the library is actually real, in the context of some of my own experiences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Colonisation, Gore, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

coleanne's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Stalking

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

emmajh91's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Vomit, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

noodlesny's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Animal death

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Vomit, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Stalking, Medical content, Car accident, and Animal cruelty

haleysversion's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Car accident

lindsay_kay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

This was a great read. The protagonist, Nora presents as a human being with flaws and strengths, triumphs, and regrets. This book is laden with a unique plot and ideas, and also some deep philosophical dives into life's many lessons and experiences. A meaningful story, that grabs your attention and keeps it until the end.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts

vbewitched's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This book gave me an existential crisis and now I have to recommend it to all my friends and family.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

3.0

‼️TW: Suicide/ SI
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Oooh we’re gonna get honest and dark with this review, folks… buckle up or back out now! 

I’ve been suicidal (always passively, and sometimes actively) since I was 6-years-old. That’s not a typo. I can very clearly remember sitting in my childhood bedroom, legs dangling off of the edge of my red bunk bed, and thinking “I’m going to kill myself.” I’ve managed to trick myself into staying alive for the last 30 years, but I can’t say it’s been easy and I’ve made a lot of choices I wish I could take back - closed a lot of doors I wish I had walked through, run through others that I should have slammed shut. In the really dark moments the thing I regret most is not just ending things when I was 6 or 16 or 26. A whole book of regrets.

The concept of The Midnight Library really appealed to me. On the edge of death, Nora is given the opportunity to address her greatest regrets and sample the lives she could have had if she’d made different choices, in the hopes of find one where she could be happy - one where she would want to keep living. Spoiler Alert:

She learns that the grass is not always greener on the other side, and that there is still time to save herself and make positive changes in her real (“root”) life.

Must be nice. 

Maybe it’s wrong for me to hate the optimistic ending, but I do. If an anti-suicide message was the goal (and of course it was, because who is out here writing pro-suicide novels?) I truly would’ve preferred the gut punch ending of Nora realizing her root life was the best one for her and still dying anyway. A “learn from this character’s mistake” kind of approach. You made your death bed, now die in it. 

Disappointing ending aside, it’s not a bad book, but it’s not great either. I can’t say I particularly liked any of the characters, it’s difficult to stay grounded in a story that’s primarily spent jumping between different lives, and there were plot points that were just fully abandoned (like Hugo and the other “sliders”… why even bother with that?) but it’s an enjoyable enough concept, easy to binge, and most of the chapters are very short, which I love. I doubt I would pick this book up again, but it was a decent way to occupy my brain for a couple of days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Car accident, Drug abuse, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

kaitkat2213's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

So beautiful, I’ve now got a sense of peace and feel at one with the world after reading it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Self harm