Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

かがみの孤城 by Mizuki Tsujimura, 辻村深月

61 reviews

afternoonlight's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
wonderful. soft & warm like a hug from the right person. like coming home after a long day. something I’d like to donate to my high school or lend to a best friend. sweet.
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feejae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

“you’re battling every single day, aren’t you?” such a lighthearted, whimsical, warmth feeling i get when i read this book. it’s a very realistic depiction of mental health and bullying faced by japanese students, and to have them showcase a variety of household backgrounds is insane. 

the unexpected plot twist took me off guard, and i was really eager to see if all of them get to meet in person (they didn’t). kokoro was an amazing main character, and the other six kids (fuka being my favourite followed by masamune, ureshino, aki, subaru & rion). the last few chapters were the best in terms of character development as we get to delve deeper into each of the characters’. (although i wasn’t a big fan of having rion’s sister as the Wolf Queen, as i would’ve liked it if Wolf Queen was like the sister’s guardian angel or spirit or something). 

my favourite chapter had to be the epilogue, and my heart feels so hollow reading it through as i realised how all 7 of them from the different time frames were all interconnected and how kitajima happened to be akiko and the special connection she had with kokoro makes me wanna cry. 

7/10 would recommend this book to people who struggle with mental health everyday 🥹❤️
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kitkathw871's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

3.75

This was a great read that makes you really not miss being in middle school. Eventually heartwarming while initially commiserable, I liked the way the mystery unfolded even if t he conclusion
felt somewhat rushed
. It has a magical, mysterious component while being readily grounded in everyday pains that most can relate to. 
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moonadjacent's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Found family from a bunch of outcasts has got to be one of my favourite tropes in fiction. The heartfelt sincerity with which the kids come to regard each other is so touching to witness evolve. 

I cried for Rion. It was so heartbreaking for him to lose the chance to wish for his sister to come back home.

My only criticism would be that as much as I loved getting to know each character's backstory, the lead up to each discovery became quite formulaic.
Kokoro runs, touches X, views memory, vows to save friend, rinse, repeat. Sort of like a video game, which, meta!
Apart from that small section, I did enjoy the writing style and pace. 

But I must admit I was quite shocked at how the parents didn't just force the kids to go to school to be honest. Personally, the idea that a child could just not go to school for a year was more fantastical
than being eaten by a wolf in a castle accessible by mirror.
Great story though, really enjoyed how all the puzzle pieces came to fit. 
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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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? No

3.5

Lonely Castle in the Mirror had a slow start, but the whole story came together in the final chapter. This story was quite sad, but hopeful at the same time. It is quite hard to put my thoughts into words to describe how I feel after reading this book; however, I know it will stay with me for a long time. I hope Kokoro and her friends will all meet again. 
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thesvnthsense's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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shellbell_04's review against another edition

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

3.75

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writteninmagic's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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hello_lovely13's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

For a good portion of this book, I was planning on rating it 3.75, but the last 100 pages turned it around. It wasn't until the ending of the book that I truly realized how deeply I cared about these characters. For most of the book, we don't know much about the outside lives of the children other than Kokoro. Since the focus is on their growing bond together despite their circumstances, and these circumstances contribute to each character's desire to use the castle as an escape and sanctuary, this makes sense. It also makes sense to add to the mystery of the book as well. I typically would prefer the protagonist slowly get to know each character's stories throughout the book, rather than all at once (throughout the book we get to know hints of their outside lives, but the focus is mainly on knowing their personalities and growing their relationships with each other so they can be there for each other), but I didn't mind how this was done at all (though I will admit, I didn't feel overly attached to the characters until a little before I had to say goodbye to them). It definitely packed a punch and had me in tears (particularly Rion's story, which continually made me cry). Masamune reminded me of Neo from I Fell in Love with Hope. Each character came from different circumstances, and I liked how each of them were written. The fact that the search for the key to get the wish wasn't a main focus for a majority of the book didn't bother me too much, but when it became a crucial part of the story in the last third of the book, it held me tight in its grip. Since I like character-centered stories, I liked how the children really came together to form a found family, thus the lack of focus on the hunt for the key didn't bother me much. There are 3 main twists in the story:
(1) the children are all students at the same school, but not at the same time (when they tried to meet up, so I was able to guess they were from different times, rather than the parallel worlds they assumed; (2) the relevance of the story "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats", rather than "Little Red Riding Hood" (I didn't know the former story, but because of the number of children and the Wolf Queen, I was able question whether there was a connection between the two as soon as the children met for the first time); (3) the Wolf Queen is Rion's dead older sister (I was able to somewhat hypothesize this once Aki was saved and the other children "came back")
. I really liked how the mysteries unfolded, and upon a reread, I think will have a lot of fun finding more of the clues left to solve them. The ending of the story simultaneously broke my heart and healed it.
The fact that Aki was Ms. Kitajima the entire time made me so happy that I couldn't stop crying. Plus, the fact that the other children saving her in the castle became a motivation (even though it was just a phantom memory) for her to want to help others??? Absolutely beautiful!
The writing style is quite simple, and at times the translation does leave a few holes in possible double meanings and clues, but, in regards to the simplicity of the style, since the narrator for the majority of the time is a 12 year old, it makes sense. I only wonder if the style is more lyrical and whimsical in Japanese. Overall, this was such a melancholy book for a majority of the time, but held such a hopeful message (
the fact that Kokoro's mother was so supportive is just one example other than the found family (the fact that she was so supportive made me so happy)
). It touched my heart, and I will be holding the characters close to me for a long time.
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