Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn

5 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring tense 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? No

5.0

What an amazing and PERFECT book!!! I was imagining the book being taught in English classes and how this would've made me so excited to read. I was so excited to read it at 24 years old, I read it without the audiobook! What a cool challenge to have kids try to write without certain letters! The history of the island is also interesting too, which meant for students learning bigger, more archaic words! I knew I was gonna give it 5 stars before I was 25 pages in. 

It's also a good representation of so many things kids will encounter as they get older. Idol worship / fanaticism / religious cults, fascism and political activism against it. What a perfect book! What a perfect book!!!

Unrelated to the book, whenever I get a new pen I always tested it by writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." I find out IMMEDIATELY I've been writing the sentence wrong FOR YEARS!!!!! I know there was a time when I wrote it right! What happened!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Death of parent, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Grief, Ableism, and Murder

Minor: Gaslighting, Racial slurs, and Misogyny

qrschulte's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This book had an interesting premise, but the focus on staying true to the “joke” of the book about letters being removed from a society’s vocabulary being told through letters (epistolary), was a bit much in my opinion. The characters weren’t that compelling, and a whole lot of nothing happened for it all to get resolved real quick in the last 20 pages (which incidentally were pretty blank).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, and Deportation

Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

razorfangz's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

Absolutely one of the most creative books I've read recently. More books that take on unconventional formats that also align really well with the plot please! A very funny but still very sharp take on religious bigotry and fascism, and it makes you read each letter very carefully to make sure the characters don't get the death sentence. My main complaint is that the ending feels rather unsatisfying to me, but I'll let you decide for yourself whether it's fitting or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Racism and Ableism

Ableism and racism tags are due to the use of the R slur and G slur, though they're only used once.

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Suicide warning is more to be safe - either way, the death in question is a result of self-harm.
Further warning for uses of the G slur and the R slur, once each. There is also a romantic subplot between a 19 year old and a ~24-26 year old that I found uncomfortable.

imaginefishes's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

It was a very fun and intriguing read, which got more challenging to understand and decode as time went on and more letter tiles fell in the book, signifying the end of their usage. The use of letters as a story format was very refreshing, but I personally found it harder to keep track of characters and their relationships initially (and up till nearly the end of the book). However, this format similarly allowed the reader to actually sort of be a part of the Nollopian world, however, and I found it engaging, though similarly because of this format it was difficult to sustain my attention sometimes. All in all, the book describes a dystopia in a whimsical and fun manner such that it doesn't really feel like a dystopia, all the while managing to discuss important themes like authority, freedom of speech, and religion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Death

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt