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megmccreery's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Self harm, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Suicide, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Excrement
khowick24's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Self harm
hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Rape, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Body horror, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Car accident, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Trafficking, and Torture
Minor: Vomit
aleann129's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness
tarantulagirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Blood, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Car accident, Child abuse, Grief, Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide
shortiebabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault
likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
erica_reads_things's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Medical content, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death, Gore, and Rape
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
astoriareader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
- Elizabeth and Emily are identical twins. Their childhood is horrific. Eventually, they were finally adopted by a good family, but not before suffering imaginable things.
- Eventually, one of the twins finds herself in an inpatient psych unit at a hospital. She is very confused by what people are telling her, and it’s not in line with her memories of the last few years.
- Very dark! Be sure to check out trigger warnings because there’s a lot of potentially triggering topics.
- I love Lucinda Berry, and I think she’s a phenomenal writer.
- This is her 4th book that I’ve read. I gave 4 stars to “The Best of Friends”, 5 stars to “When She Returned”, and 3 stars to “If You Tell A Lie.”
- Complex characters with excellent character development. I enjoyed the side characters, like Rose & Lisa, too.
- Berry writes a lot about mental health and trauma in this one, and I enjoyed how she presented the DSM and the look into the diagnoses.
- The whole story is told from the perspective of the twin, who is hospitalized. I loved learning from her eyes. Through conversations with others, she gains a lot of insight. There are flashbacks and memories as well. And, there’s a small portion of the book at the beginning that is prior to the hospitalization.
- I felt really connected to the main character, and I felt like I was right there with her trying to understand what exactly happened to her. The pacing was great. I was satisfied with the ending.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Child abuse
Minor: Bullying and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
murdoch's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The writing felt amateurish, all tell and no show. It was completely lacking in subtlety and, honestly, skill. I thought the depictions of mental illness were extremely heavy-handed and excessively trope-y; the repeated graphic descriptions of self-injury seemed gratuitous and served no purpose in terms of plot or characterisation.
First plot twist was so predictable, I didn’t understand if the reader was meant to be shocked or not. The final reveal was kind of like, “okay and?”. By that point I just wanted it to be over and the ending fell as flat as the characters felt.
Reading the author’s bio I thought she would be able to write about the sensitive topics in this book in a way that doesn’t feel exploitative or ignorant. So much of the book came across like it had been written by someone who’d just discovered what mental illness is; concepts that (to me at least) seemed relatively basic were written about like they were revolutionary. The author also presented details so clinically that at times it felt like reading a case study rather than a fictional book. I felt sometimes like I was sitting in a high school psychology class or a lecture.
Some of the characters, specifically the protagonist’s therapist and her doctor, seemed like mouthpieces for the author to “show off” what she knows about mental illness, trauma etc. But the information wasn’t even impressive or engaging?
Descriptions of some of the female patients on the psych ward were unnecessary, seemed like the author just wanted to shit on a particular kind of woman. Again, this seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. We get the usual, done-to-death scene during group therapy on the psych ward where one patient’s meltdown triggers the rest. Yawn.
Given the author’s background, I was hoping for a more unique perspective on the topics at hand. The story was a telling of mental illness that was at best boring and at its worst irresponsible and misinformed.
Overall, the characterisation and the relationships between characters were weird and unbelievable. The plot was obvious, anti-climactic and tired.
It gets one star for the concept and even that I give begrudingly.
In short: this book did nothing new and, worse, did it badly. Hated it.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug abuse