Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

13 reviews

oceange's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Death, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Classism, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Misogyny, Murder, Car accident, Death of parent, Excrement, Racism, and Islamophobia

dua_liepard's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Gore, Child death, Slavery, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Colonisation, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

adam0k's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Physical abuse, Rape, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

theolivetree's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, Hate crime, Infertility, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is an extremely well-written novel.  Mistry has a talent of interweaving seemingly unlikeable characters and forcing you to find empathy within their choices and actions.  That being said, this was not the book for me.

Just want you think there will be happiness for the characters—Dina getting married to a man that loves her, Om and Ishvar continuing their legacy, Maneck being spared by the suffering inflicted on the other characters—each hope is dashed. Yes, their are small victories and little rebellions, but the only characters that seemingly “win” are objectively terrible people. 

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to this novel, especially in how our actions—good or bad—are linked in ways we couldn’t ordinarily have imagined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Animal death, Classism, Death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide, Torture, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief

melissahawco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Death, Murder, Hate crime, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Cancer, Excrement, and Vomit

julietagmza's review

emotional inspiring slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Suicide

dashes101's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book I'm glad I read but would never recommend without many, many warnings. It's set during the Emergency in India and discusses major themes -- the role of capitalism, fate, trauma and trauma responses, history, Indira Ghandi and her effects on India, nationhood, femininity, masculinity, nihilism to name a few. The characters seem real and you will scream, cry, shake, or whatever you do when you read something horrifically shocking. Mistry really crafts his writing to pack a punch. If you want to learn more about Indian history without picking up a textbook, definitely read the warnings and then pick this one up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Gore, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Animal death, Ableism, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Death, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Colonisation

izzyknight's review

inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. So totally devastating and gorgeously crafted I was transported into the harsh world created in the pages. The moments of joy filled me with hope that maybe this time things would get better for the characters only for despair to follow in such unimaginable amounts I actually gasped aloud reading the suffering they had to endure. One of my new favourite books ever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

em8ly's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The type of book that I look up from it and I wonder why other people around me don't feel the pain I am feeling reading the book, as they go about their lives. Written beautifully and exceptionally, the relationships made in the book were an enjoyment to see come to fruition but so much of the sadness could have been hard to take in if I weren't in the mindset to read this book that I was. Overall, a fantastic read and a good look into what life was like during The Emergency. I definitely would recommend you be 18+ to read this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Classism, Colonisation, Excrement, Islamophobia, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Suicide