Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Distância de Segurança by Samanta Schweblin

24 reviews

hypnopedia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Very quick read, still some questions. This book reads like Bojack Horseman's View From Halfway Down episode. If you know, you know.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror and Terminal illness

librarymouse's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

3.0

I'm really not sure what to think of this book. It's very consumable. I read it in just over an hour. At a few points, I wondered if this book is an allegory for the changes that occur when a child starts showing signs of autism, since both David and Nina are noted to line up things just before their poisoning becomes severe. I'm not sure that that is the case, but this book, as per the title, reads like a fever dream. There's definitely a commentary being made on the visibility of disabled children, how they're viewed when the disability is developed, and on a wealth disparity between the urban well to do and the rural poor. 

I'm sure if I were to read this again and again, I'd find a new understanding each time.

the confirmation of the migrations being done in the greenhouse being real, at the end, is an interesting twist (?). I don't know that it can be called a twist because David is co narrating, and were told by Carla that it is real, but Amanda's scepticism is infectious. Nina being in David's body at the end of the book, unrecognized by her father is heartbreaking. Carla saying that if she could have another child, she'd want one like Nina is made all the more unsettling and sad with the ending. Her tying knots, as if trying to reinstate the snapped, ineffable rope that connects her to her mother

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, and Grief

kalira's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child death

f18's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Ableism and Medical content

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Terminal illness and Injury/Injury detail

jjjreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Classism

dustghosts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Medical trauma

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

The creepy child vibes are strong with this one, and narrator Hillary Huber absolutely nails it.  One mother’s attempt to save her child is met with a curse, and another’s vacation is brought to a screeching halt when she wakes up dying with little memory of how she got there.  This is one of those books where you don’t really know what’s going on at first, the story gradually unfolding through its final pages.  Fever Dream has a sense of foreboding, unsettling urgency and reads like a short story.  In search of “the exact moment” everything went wrong, you won’t want to put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Terminal illness

alexalily's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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: Animal death, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Animal cruelty and Stalking

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Terminal illness

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage