Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Affinity by Sarah Waters

7 reviews

grayshuff's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Suicide, Mental illness, Confinement, and Abandonment

eleanor029's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I love Sarah Waters' writing but this book was so slow to build up. Had it been my first of hers, I'm not sure I would have finished it. 
Having finished it, I see the full picture and can appreciate the story, but while reading it, I was not as hooked as usually when reading Sarah Waters. 
This would be a good book club book to compare to 'Fingersmith', since I thought the vibes were similar in the end. 

I did find it quite unsatisfying though, that Selina never came to Margaret at all. I would have found the betrayal greater had she maybe come to Margaret in her room, kissed her, taken the things and then left her standing. But then again, the context of her escape would have been harder to explain...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

horizonous's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer, Abortion, Blood, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death, and Domestic abuse

◦ Drug abuse = Laudanum
◦ Mental illness = Anxiety, depression

violentlyagitated's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

2.0

This is the book equivalent to a cloudy day which makes you think it might start pouring at some point, but goes out in a light drizzle after all.

Vast stretches of not-much-happens dominate the plot. I was more interested in the prisoners' stories and their daily routine than in anything the actual plot was trying to achieve - feeling the emotions and taking in the atmosphere, I suppose? It didn't work, in any case... You never feel much of anything for anyone. The spirituality hook felt somewhat inaccessable and empty as well, very much like a device. 

In the end, this is a story in which a convict and her gf shamelessly use a lady's weakness and manipulate her (and the matron, for that matter) for their own gain. The worst part is that you see it coming a mile away and still have to get through 200 more pages to get your suspicions confirmed.

The worst crime here is boredom, really.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness and Suicide attempt

nialiversuch's review

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion and Child death

Minor: Alcohol and Terminal illness

ehmannky's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• 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 think this might be my favorite of Waters' book. The final twist at the end genuinely made me gasp, and it was such a gut punch. I don't know how to review this book without spoilers (though I will say that suicide is a heavy plot point, so stay clear if that's not something you're comfortable reading), but I really enjoyed it. It's by no means happy, at any point at all in whole book, but it's gloomy and kind of spooky and it's really hitting a 2020 mood right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Moderate: Confinement and Mental illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Cancer, and Sexual assault

jonesmonster's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was darker and less tightly plotted than Fingersmith but I still loved it. It took me a few chapters to get into it but once I did I couldn't put it down. The central character veers from sympathetic and sensible to disastrously out of control of her life in a way that made it difficult to 'love' her but she definitely got under my skin.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexism