Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

21 reviews

thewordapothecary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

2.5

Mostly I’m just confused. Why the hell did I just read an entire book to basically have no closure for the main plot. There’s unnecessary trauma included in the book that totally could’ve been left out. Elle is the unluckiest character, and I know that bad things happen to lots of people… but her life was one bad thing after the other. She’s a bad person. The one good thing that’s ever happened in her life and she acts like she could easily give it up. The only thing saving this book from a one star is the last handful of chapters and even that is a stretch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Cancer, Sexual violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Rape

amberday27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Death, Grief, Rape, Cancer, Child abuse, Incest, and Sexual assault

lbh_0327's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Incest, and Sexual violence

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, Vomit, Alcohol, Body shaming, Drug use, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

cecilialau_'s review against another edition

4.5

This was defo a page-turner for me. I was pretty much fully immersed in the story.
I think the author is very accomplished in getting the characters to act/interact/react authentically (however disturbing or sad it might be for the reader). Quite a lot of deeply disturbing/tragic occurrences making it a very tough read at times. There’s a point where I wanted to fight one of the characters… I was beyond fuming.

The weakness of the dad was hard to read. The girls had a lot going against them from the start. Many of the things that happened (outside of the most heinous ones done by Conrad which made me f-ing fuming) made me want to cry for them.
Anna was a favourite. Eleanor is definitely a flawed character - sometimes you know what explains her behaviour but it was also clear that she didn’t want the responsibility of making the choice between the two. But it is almost impossible when you have a love for both, I do recognise that. Not sure how I felt about the ending bc she could easily change her mind from one moment to the next. Which was so heartbreaking for Jonas to keep having to relive. I do, though, like that she was self-aware most of the time e.g. in how her blaming Jonas (unfairly but understandably immaturely) was their downfall after the drowning - but Jonas was 14 at the time for goodness sake … 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Child death, Terminal illness, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Death

tairameadowcroft's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

bethancy's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

I really liked the general vibe and story of this book but had to tap out when the abuse became too much for me. I appreciate its an important topic to talk about but I just found it too upsetting and disturbing for me at this point in time.

bowenlacar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Terminal illness

izbizedgerton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Ok so like this book is HEAVY, but I’m really glad I read it. It’s forced me out of my comfort zone and I had to think a lot about what makes me like, dislike, or feel meh about a character. The ending was EXACTLY what I wanted! It felt right and important. After the second book, it picked up and I started REALLY caring about what the characters thought and felt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

I enjoyed this book, though content warnings should be issued for the middle section in which there are graphic depictions of sa, r*pe, and in*est.

reina02's review against another edition

I couldn’t really finish the book. It’s definitely a book with hard topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

camillebergeron's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Child death, Animal death, Grief, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Medical trauma, Stalking, Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Fatphobia and Medical content