Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

44 reviews

kschupner's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

i absolutely loved this novel, the black hole acting as a metaphor for depression was very well done. i loved how chapters were done, each being separated with a dictionary definition relating to the theme of it! the book is divided into four parts, resembling the anatomy of a pomegranate, and i loved that idea a lot!! the book starts with the outermost layer, and as situations take their turns, we get to the seeds at the end of the book. the black hole pages were also very clever! enough about the formatting though—i think this was beautifully written and very well done; it captured the complexities of the beginning of covid, being radicalized after seeing the reality of a city like silicon valley, etc. a really great, short read about how capitalism, depression, and the uncertainty of the pandemic affects/affected our lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abortion, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Infidelity and Panic attacks/disorders

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Suicide, and Drug use

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Police brutality, and Panic attacks/disorders

disguisedposer's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child abuse, Grief, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse

pookiee's review

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Addiction, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, and Medical content

Moderate: Infertility, Abortion, and Vomit

Minor: Racism and Misogyny

lpdx's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Drug use, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Excrement, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders

ladynocturnal's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

As a San Francisco native, I give this book my stamp of approval. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with our dystopian capitalistic reality. You are not crazy, life sucks.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Abortion and Panic attacks/disorders

dumbcumpster's review

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book reminded me a lot of my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh. it was a quick read, but a tough one; I genuinely sobbed throughout a lot of this book, but it also made me laugh. the narrator's internal monologue reminds me a lot of my own, and it was both eerie and comforting to see it reflected elsewhere. I tore through this book in just over a day. 

it was almost ergodic in how the author uses black holes and black pages and "e.g.:" and definitions throughout to mirror the content of the book. the black hole metaphor was a little heavy-handed for my taste, but the pomegranate metaphor really struck me. it's very heavy on internal monologue, childhood memories, and the narrator's internal thoughts feelings etc. 

I've seen multiple reviews mention how Cassie, the main character, sucks or is a bad person or whatever, which I think is strange. I think the whole point is to draw attention to how capitalism ruins people's lives and turns them into something they never wanted to be, out of sheer economic necessity. Cassie is vain, competitive, cowardly, irresponsible, pathetic, an addict, lacks self control, the whole shebang, but so are we all. Cassie being directly impacted by being mistreated at her job, abused by her mother, half-heartedly committed to by her kind-of boyfriend, extorted by her landlord, put at risk by the virus, etc, all makes her want to shrivel up and hide and die. I think that's all of us. Cassie is all of us. that's what makes her so uncomfortable to understand and to see her inner machinations laid bare.

I think you'll either get this book or you won't, and you'll know pretty quickly which camp you fall into. if you have any experience with depression or poverty, you'll probably get it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicide, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Vomit

madelinemartin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

For anyone dealing with changing jobs and burnout, this book is almost too relatable. 

The book juxtaposes the situation Cassie finds herself in and the surrealistic depiction of her mental health issues in sharp contrast to one another, providing a sinister air to the shady corporate dealings she is forced to do, and an edge of realism to her very asbtract mental health issues. The tone shifts as her issues worsen, and while there isn't a whole lot of plot, her spiral seems scarily, worryingly relatable.

While the way her thoughts and actions escalate at the end of the novel implies she is going to end her life, it could also be interpreted as choosing to embrace the black hole as a pathway to starting over, changing her reality — a new job, new city, or ending her complicated situationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Classism, Abortion, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Misogyny, Addiction, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sarahrosebooknook's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Addiction, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abortion, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

aprillem's review

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

I enjoyed this book in the beginning; it was well written and I liked the overall tone. But the main character had absolutely no growth, no interests, no perspective beyond her misery. I relate to the congitive dissonance of having to go through the motions of life while witnessing endless daily tragedies, but there was no reflection beyond that. All we get from the main character is the sense that life is bleak and we have no control over any of it so what’s the point. 

None of the characters in the book were likeable, they literally all suck. The writing was good but it got a bit tedious and the black hole metaphor was very heavy handed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Drug abuse, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide