Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

18 reviews

marilululu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Ableism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, and Mental illness

purnuhja's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

a beautifully complex coming of age story! I think Ferrante did a great job exploring female relationships, as well just relationships in general, poverty and class politics, cycles of violence and misogyny.  it was hard to start and I struggled with pacing sometimes, but I loved the story and all that it had to offer. definitely don't think that Elena and Lila should be friends, there's so much toxicity in every relationship, but I also believe they need each other in this neighborhood that can't escape it's past. Ferrante does a great job balancing that line and just painting a vivid picture with her words. it can be frustrating and heartbreaking at times, but I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves coming of age stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault

miller8d's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is brilliant in a way that makes me say “This is the story of a real life,” not “omg I love this book.” Like, I don’t really feel like I read a fictional story. (I actually have no clue if it’s autobiographical or not but I won’t google it because I don’t want to spoil it). Perhaps for that reason, this book took me an incredible long time to read. Like, months on end of picking it up and loving it, but being unable to pick it up again because it was so difficult to read. I don’t even think it was actually difficult literature for me, but instead so emotionally dense and detail-heavy that I couldn’t pay anything but 100% attention while reading, otherwise I’d have to go back dozens of pages to figure out why I was confused. Also,

this is perhaps the only book or story I’ve ever known which accurately depicts how tumultuous and confusing and painful it can be to survive childhood and grow up. I absolutely loved her depiction of how the child’s mind can equally spin fantasy and horrific terror on the same coin— not simple boogieman stuff, but much scarier, finding awful and disturbing fears in/around the mundane figures of your social world and daily life, even when there’s nothing truly wrong there.

Beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Misogyny, Child abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

risemini's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Ableism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, and Racism

dreamersmind's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, and Death of parent

girlsiread's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

no one can write girlhood like elena ferrante. it’s so unsettling, raw, but so deeply realistic. it explores the politics of italy, mother-daughter relationships, poverty, the male gaze, and friendship all in one and i’m just so obsessed. finished it on my kindle and instantly went to purchase the rest of the series. ty elena ferrante. and here’s to women in translate month :*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Pedophilia

becksusername's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I can't wait to get my hands on book two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Classism, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Violence

_shonahenderson's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Body shaming, Stalking, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Classism, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

lindseyhall44's review

reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

My Brilliant Friend is a highly regarded international treasure, focusing on a female friendship in 1950’s+ Naples. While I cannot relate to Elena (our narrator) in a environmental or physical sense, her connection with Lila embodies so much of my own relationships from adolescents to now. It’s resonance with readers spanning multiple years highlights Ferrante’s brilliant (haha see what I did there) ability to articulate the human experience, many events of which I am still trying to put together with words.
I cannot wait to continue on with the rest of the Neapolitan series, and Ferrante’s backlist in general.
After checking trigger warnings, I would highly highly recommend if you enjoy character based novels!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Murder

adeliab's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence and Homophobia