Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

6 reviews

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful medium-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

4.5

I picked this up as it’s one of the ‘weird girl’ book recommendations I kept coming across on my TikTok feed. It’s a weird girl book, but the first weird girl book I’ve read that portrays family and and generational trauma like this.

If you’re looking for a book where lots of things happen, this isn’t for you. This is a book that is about people, and I really loved how it’s the family and not events that carry this. It will hit home if you’ve coped with generational trauma or felt tied down by your love for your family.

However, I’m still wrapping my head around the parts with the cicada.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Cancer, and Death

vvabecca's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very good but oi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Torture, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

ruffian23's review

dark reflective sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

kinomatica's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Primarily well-written descriptions of creating taxidermy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Outing, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer

kp_writ's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

 📚 I loved this exploration of grief and the many ways people try to move on (or not) from a loss.
📚 Jessa-Lynn is a hard to root for protagonist but you find yourself doing so anyway, or at least I did. We love a messy gay.
📚 The taxidermy passages are not for the faint of heart, but ultimately I did find them fascinating, and began to understand the meditative quality the work could take on for Jessa-Lynn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit