Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

26 reviews

mariko2023's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization

litoreads's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Homophobia, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

keelirae113's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a love letter to everyone who has ever been made to feel that they don’t belong. You deserve a family who loves you just as you are, even if that means you have to go out and find them for yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Hate crime, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders

n_iniel's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-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: Xenophobia, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Mental illness and Child abuse

crystalunvrs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

emburke's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-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

3.75

TJ Klune said in an interview that this book is inspired by the Sixties Scoop, a large scale removal of indigenous children from their homes. As a white person Klune had no business telling someone else's story. I advise keeping that in mind if you choose to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Mental illness and Fatphobia

Minor: Abandonment

fanboyriot's review

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood

natroze's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Moderate: Xenophobia, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Not on content warnings list: adoption/foster system trauma and abuse. Note: most xenophobia and racism in the book is directed at mythical/fantasy being characters (fairies, shapeshifters, etc). Also of note: does fall into the “character of color turns into an animal” trope; the one character I recall being described as black is a shapeshifter who turns into a dog, who has also suffered some of the most realistic-to-life adoption system trauma/abuse.

giulianalb99's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

Qué libro TAN bonito, 5 estrellas se le queda corto. Lo llevaré siempre en mi corazón. Este libro me ha hecho sentir tantas cosas bonitas e incluso me ha hecho llorar. Los personajes son increíbles y me ha encantado ver cómo evolucionan y lo mucho que se quieren todos e incluso hacen que te sientas como en casa. Arthur y Linus tienen mi corazón para siempre y los niños también. Me parece un libro súper importante por los temas que trata (como, por ejemplo, la segregación, la aceptación de uno mismo, los prejuicios, etc.) y por eso recomiendo a todo el mundo que lo lea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Racism, Confinement, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, and Religious bigotry

sockandkey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Devoured this in less than a week. Extremely disappointed when I realized the (white) author was inspired to make a lighthearted fantasy by the 60s scoop (yikes), which was handled poorly, in retrospect

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Ableism, Eating disorder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Self harm