Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

403 reviews

kcgarris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i watched the miniseries before i read the book, and im glad i did. the book dives deeper into the psychology of the characters in a fascinating way and many of the scenes felt far more visceral in the book. my skin was crawling almost the entire time. 

the story is a really fascinating dive into the culture of small southern towns like wind gap and it does an excellent job in portraying the residents of the town as performative in their grief. they care more about their town becoming famous, about the chance to have their name in print, than they are about the children who were murdered and adora’s blatant abuse. said abuse was never acknowledged in any meaningful way in an effort to keep from making waves, and as a result a little girl died. 

amma might be the most fascinating character in this story. flynn does an excellent job of showing how abuse like adora’s can warp and damage a child. the line “a child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort” on page 251 i think is an excellent summation, and flynn does a wonderful job of showing this again and again from the moment we meet amma. 

the pacing of the story is incredibly done, the story carries you almost seamlessly from scene to scene, from moment to moment, tense the entire time. will most definitely read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

townmarshboy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.5

The whole time I was reading this book, I was thinking, how did this even get published? 2.5 stars because the plot was interesting (until the end, when

everything was ruined by the twist

) and i felt that Flynn strongly developed an atmosphere in this novel so it was very immersive. This is my first Gillian Flynn read and I’m not sure if I’ll read anything else after this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Medical content

abenesh's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexual assault

ciaramcv's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

daniarribas's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

veryill's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Murder

nalakoala's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

aprilrosek's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Alcohol

Minor: Toxic friendship

sammm_888's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

abbeyroad1410's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I should say that I actually really liked this book (and I am flabbergasted by the ending), but I had to take a lot of breaks from it because the content was a lot to take in. As a (former) English major, I could write a dissertation on the major themes of gender roles and the messages on parent-child relationships which made it interesting. 
The main characters of this book, Camille and Amma, are super intriguing, and their relationship with each other makes you all the more fascinated to see what will happen. The book forces you to consider how the parenting impacts them individually and their distant relationship with each other. The girls almost act as mirror images of each other, with Camille drawing away from her mother's abuse and Amma accepting it as fact. 
However, the plot is very, very slow and difficult to get through. Dark and disturbing things are described in drawn-out detail. At times, I had to convince myself to put the book down so that I wouldn't feel so mentally exhausted. That being said, the book's plot is important and compelling, propelling readers to keep reading even if the novel emotionally drains them.
If I had one flat-out critique of the book, it is the scene in which the main character (a thirty year old woman) sleeps with an eighteen year old boy. Something about it just made me feel slimy; however, I don't think it was meant to be portrayed as a fantastic situation. 
Overall, I enjoyed this book...I just preferred Gone Girl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder