Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky

6 reviews

alexandryareads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Animal death

Minor: Miscarriage and Sexual violence

angel_hardy's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, and Child death

temymm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Death, Child death, and Abandonment

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

this book was like something i’ve never read before. this was atmospheric, dark, twisty, and in general, depressing. the cover made me buy this and the synopsis hooked me. i was very drawn to this book and it was as good as i imagined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Chouette is a book I think about quite regularly and I have a feeling Poor Deer will be the same! Dark, so sad, but also ultimately hopeful, Poor Deer imagines alternate memories and pasts and futures. It was interesting reading this right after Interesting Facts About Space, another new release where a young woman navigates childhood shame and false memories. The writing was so beautiful and often seeping with a kind of gross, dank undertone that lent to a dark fairytale feeling, I could so fully see and smell and feel this book. The ending didn’t fully land for me, but everything was so strong otherwise, it is a story with staying power.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Abandonment, and Mental illness

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

Margaret Murphy is an endearing and heartbreaking unreliable narrator. For most of Poor Deer, Margaret is a child simply trying her best to interpret a world of adults - namely her single mother and aunt. Oshetsky excels at writing what feels like a genuine child's perspective of the world. Margaret is adept and intuitive and yet so deeply underestimated. Though never explicitly stated, there's an implication of neurodivergence in a time and place in which adults had little to no understanding of such things.

As a whole, Poor Deer is an empathetic and imaginative look at the stories that we tell ourselves in order to survive. And the circumstances that push us to develop a complex and self-punishing interior world.

Many thanks to @eccobooks and @netgalley for the eARC of Poor Deer in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Grief, and Mental illness