Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

103 reviews

klutzy347's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Infertility, and Sexual content

stbyleth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A really compelling and thoughtful read. Truly does this manage to consider some questions of ethics and morality. The ending is bittersweet and sad but it was more about the in between than the ending, and Cathy knows that too. 

I enjoyed that this book presented information like a puzzle to be solved. The narration allowed such information to be digested easily. Some people have said that there's too many loose ends, but I disagree; this book sets out to ask the reader specific questions and does it really well. The overall world building is negligible in a book like this, so you don't need to know everything. 

I really recommend this book. I read it for a book club and I'm glad I did. Very thought provoking, poignant, and relevant today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Minor: Infertility

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Basically the quiet, artsy, English version of Michael Bay’s The Island. TBH I kinda prefer Bay’s version with car chases & explosions 3👩🏼‍🍼

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I read this book once before, as a child, but I forgot how much it hurts. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and begging the reader to confront and understand a horrifying ethical dilemma within the view of a pastoral childhood, this book is one that I will never be able to forget and one which will never stop hurting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cancer and Classism

stitcho's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer

dovewrites's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 I remember reading a piece of writing advice recently, about how so many authors get tragedy and trauma wrong. That many stories seem to display trauma just for shock. This book executed tragedy in the most profound and beautiful way. As the advice I read stated, Ishiguro managed to do sadness with the audience, not to the audience.

the catharsis of this story is that these three people who were not considered people by the world they lived in mattered, their love mattered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma

milet22's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

luxxltyd's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Infertility, and Sexual content

elisabeth_with_an_ess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-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

This book is written in the style of spoken reminiscences, with allusions to things that haven't been described yet, and "but maybe I should explain..." 

This device makes you really feel that you are one of Kathy's friends, or maybe just a chance acquaintance, or perhaps one of her donors who has been asking for stories of Hailsham.

All in all, this is a devastating book, will make you ponder all the things that bind us together as humans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

dlrosebyh's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

The students at Hailsham, a private school in the lovely English countryside that Kathy, now 31 years old, attended as a kid, were shielded from the outside world and taught that their wellbeing was essential for both themselves and the community they would eventually inhabit. Kathy had long since left this beautiful past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham pals come back into her life, she quits resisting the tug of recollection.

Kathy remembers their time at Hailsham as her relationship with Ruth is revived and the sentiments that once drove her juvenile Tommy obsession start to develop into love. She paints joyful pictures of boys and girls growing up side by side, unconcerned—even comforted—by their seclusion. However, she also portrays episodes of conflict and misunderstanding that allude to a sinister truth concealed under Hailsham's maternal façade. The three friends are forced to face the truth about their childhoods and their current lives as the clarity of hindsight begins to emerge.

Sometimes, even in their own stories, people don't merit being the main characters. Ruth is such a jerk and also such a boring person. Like, why are you a bland AND a jerk? Imagine being only known as a jerk. I wished Kathy wouldn't have reignited their friendship. And let's not even talk about the writing. It was equally as dull and nasty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying and Infertility

Minor: Homophobia