Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

362 reviews

_j3ss1ca's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Mental illness

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

4.5

“How many times can someone bend before they break forever? You have to take care, dealing with broken things; sometimes they give way, and break others in their turn.”

Now I understand why so many people told me to go into this book blind. 

I was unprepared for the journey this book took me on, yet in hindsight, it all seems so obvious now. There was a moment in which I  twigged to the core of this book and the story it was telling but in a way that merely scratched the surface. A moment when I thought that this storyline was hurtling towards cliche at breakneck speed. Only for the story to expand itself into the bigger picture - slotting everything into place. Like a Russian doll. Each part perfectly fitting inside the next. 

My biggest qualm with this book is the end to Dee’s storyline. Which I personally didn’t stand up to the rest of the story. 

This is the kind of book to go into as blind as possible (however, checking content warnings is highly recommended). This book uses unreliable narrators to their best ability, luring you into false conclusions and switching up at the final second. And other than that, there is not much more I can say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Child death, Torture, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Torture, Death, Physical abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Suicide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death of parent

apollo0325's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Just finished but going to come back to this review and maybe adjust star ratings (currently a 3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Medical content

There are a lot of potentially triggering material

including the description of a hanging (suicide), injury/burn descriptions, child abuse, starvation, death, death of a child (dead child's body described), and as a MAJOR PLOT POINT, dissociative identity disorder (I do not have DID so I cannot speak to the authenticity of it - the author's afterword describes her research on DID).

If you're afraid of snakes, one of the narrators has a severe fear of snakes and will constantly describe snakes.

nicesideburns's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The 3 is a nice gesture but overall im disappointed with the book. 

If you need to rely on DID to add to your horror/thriller as a non DID haver then the story is null. There are parts where it even romanticizes the concept of DID. It was uncomfortable to read. It was obvious that author was infatuated with this disorder despite interviewing DID havers. It feels like this whole novel wasn't ran through them and labeled as a gift for the community.

Upsetting this has literally been broadcasted as a horror/thriller disturbing novel on booktok and reviews despite it being said its "not"

Literally everything fell apart when things pointed to this fact. Had DID been removed this would've been more promising. Im thoroughly disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Animal death, Child death, Blood, and Confinement

rabidmerk's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Death

zeldazonks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

It got to a certain point when I was listening to this, that I thought I had it figured out but I was still curious enough to finish and see how everything played out. Well, more fool me, because this book took me completely by surprise on 2 or 3 occasions. Towards the end it was quite tough to get through, so check trigger warnings.

I will also say that I'm not 100% convinced about the mental health representation/portrayal in this. While in the afterword the author does clarify more about the disorder and the research they did into it, the fact of the matter is that you are led to believe a very specific narrative about Ted through most of the novel and while the book does catch you off guard, and challenge the preconceived notions you have about predators and good vs bad people, I just don't think the book carries it off well enough to completely avoid perpetuating stereotypes or harm. This was interesting and quite unique, but I think it almost undermines it's own point in how obviously you're walked down the garden path for the majority of the book. I respect the bold choices - the pov of a cat for example, and

I think I'll be mulling over this one for a little bit, but I don't know that it managed to fully pull off what it was trying to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Child death, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Animal death, Torture, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Death, Confinement, and Blood

simplyammee's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia

gothikry's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Self harm, Murder, and Mental illness

amessina3399's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I'm not someone who likes to throw around 5-star ratings for books, but this book was certainly the exception. This book is most certainly my favorite to date. I laughed, I cried, I'm about to go to the store and purchase a copy to have forever.

It took me about 25% of the book before I really got into it, and the only thing that kept me was the other reviews saying how great it was, so I trusted. And I am SO glad I did.

There are tons of twists and turns in this book, and it navigates these shifts with a nail-biting grace. It's horrific, it's bittersweet, and the characters are INCREDIBLY lovable. I usually don't re-read books, but I am excited to go back and read this one again to catch all the juicy little details I missed the first time around. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, and Murder