Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

43 reviews

brewdy_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

๐˜”๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฎ โ€ข ๐˜™๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜บ โ€ข ๐˜š๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ โ€ข ๐˜”๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ 
๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜บ ๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜๐˜ช โ€ข ๐˜Ž๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข โ€ข ๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ด ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ โ€ข ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜Š๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด 

This book has blown me away. 

An affliction that is a blessing and a curse 
An unsolved decades old murder 
A love that transcends distance and time

This story is told in beautiful, poetic prose that transports us instantly. Nestled into the cozy, picturesque hills of the Blue Ridge Mtns in small-town USA, Jasper is a town where everyone knows everyone, where the annual midsummer faire is a main event, and where June Farrow owns and operates her family's flower farm.

This is a tale of family and a love story and itโ€™s also a mystery/thriller. Young deftly blurs the lines between literary genres, obliterating the normal boundaries. Her words are smooth like butter & made my multi-genre-loving heart sing.

This is a story of 5 generations of women, of the choices they make to keep each others' secrets to avoid persecution, bringing strong witchy vibes. Combined with repressed memories, premonitions, hallucinations, a curse affecting only Farrow women, and an unsolved cold case - this is the perfect spooky fall read.

I loved how we get to unravel the mystery alongside June. Young is the master of the slow reveal, balancing predictability against complexity, employing amnesia to allow June to remember things over time, and utilizing visions to make us question her reliability. 
This book made me ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™.

๐’€๐’๐’– ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’…! ๐‘น๐’†๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’†๐’” ๐‘ถ๐’„๐’•๐’๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•๐’•๐’‰
๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜•๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜Ž๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜™๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ - ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฆ๐˜ˆ๐˜™๐˜Š.

Shades of 11/22/63 and The Time Travelerโ€™s Wife and Memento. Pass through different timelines.

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS:
  • June is grieving the loss of her grandmother, Margaret. Margaret raised June with the help of a few folks (Birdie & Mason), after Juneโ€™s own mother, Susanna, abandoned her & disappeared without a trace. Over the last year, June has been experiencing hallucinations, including a red door.
  • June investigates what happened to her mother, and after a series of revelations, June is faced with a decision to walk through the red door.
  • Canโ€™t really say much else without spoiling it :) 

MY THOUGHTS
  • Involves time travel + magical realism. Also, has suspense/mystery + romance.
  • Lots of strong female characters.
  • Interesting premise & well-plotted story.
  • A good Fall read.
  • A little slow in some parts.
  • Set in Jasper, NC.
  • Young adeptly paints the setting, as well as emotions & body language. While reading, your mind automatically forms a picture with the words.
  • As with all time travel stories, it is easy to find some logical inconsistencies & confusion. With these types of read, I find overthinking it isnโ€™t worth it.
  • I enjoyed Youngโ€™s clever references to womenโ€™s legitimate issues timelessly being deemed โ€œhysteriaโ€ or mental illness by medical professionals and society.

TL;DR: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธRead if you enjoy time travel with a mix of other genres (romance, mystery/suspense, magical realism).

Thanks to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on October 17, 2023.

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katefrost's review against another edition

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

5.0

I canโ€™t stop thinking about this book, days after Iโ€™ve finished it. Iโ€™ve begged every friend I have to read it, and now I turn to you, review reader. Please read this book. I want to talk about it with *everyone*. 

If you loved Outlander, but couldnโ€™t imagine yourself staying in a time with no indoor plumbing, despite a magnetic love story? This is for you. However in this story, the timeline has somehow become jumbled and June finds herself in a previous time in which sheโ€™s never been, but everyone there recognizes her as a future self who has visited previously. There are mysterious subplots and a slow burn romance and so much foreshadowing toward a fantastic payoff that had me shouting about my rightness for two days. This book felt electric to meโ€” I couldnโ€™t step away from it. The premise of being able to inhabit a time when your foremothers are also young felt so fascinating that Iโ€™m still stuck on the idea days later. 

Seriously I adored this book. Iโ€™m not really one for rereading many books but I canโ€™t wait to reread this one when it comes out. I canโ€™t wait to discuss it with my friends as they read it. Many thanks to Netgalley for a digital ARC of this book. 


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