Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

7 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

A magnificent novel. Its elegant writing fits the late-Victorian time period and immerses the readerֹ’s senses in the environment. Its exploration of human relationships and emotions is sophisticated and complex.

The novel explores the themes of religion versus superstition,  religion versus reason, friendship and love, the role of women in society and child-adult relationships. I particularly appreciated the author’s knowledgeable and nuanced portrayal of Christian life and its tensions, avoiding any of the silly stereotyping that seems to crop up so often in recent UK novels.

The characters all felt real to me: We see both their capabilities and their flaws; so too their as-often-as-not troubled relationships, in which people can care deeply for each other and yet differ strongly in their opinions and outlook on life.

Many things of heart and mind to ponder on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

lauramcc7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual content

turning_every_paige's review

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

3.5

This feels less like a novel and more like an observation of the intersecting lives of the characters over a period of time. The presence and fear of the serpent is  pervasive, it changes people’s behaviour and impacts the way they live their lives. The writing is excellent, the narrative interesting enough to be unpredictable and it held my attention, but not engrossing enough to read it fast. I could have happily read a chapter a month and kept pace with the passage of time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Infidelity

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

3.0

I went into the book not really knowing what to expect (it's a book that I've seen recommended many times and wanted to give it a try) and now that I've finished it I can say that it was a nice enough read and clearly well written and researched but it just fell a bit flat for me in terms of story.  

Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the 
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place. 

Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.

Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Body shaming, and Sexual violence

maddiehansen's review

challenging emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

elzibub's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Dementia, Grief, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt