Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

42 reviews

alyssastager's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Abandonment, Addiction, and Grief

laerkelikesreading's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

aileensbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Alcohol, Cancer, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts

nineinchnails's review

challenging sad 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

2.75

i genuinely wanted to like this so badly but it just falls flat. i think reading this with the normal people comparisons in mind ruined this for me because i love normal people and, aside from the lack of speech marks, they had very little in common. the writing felt stilted and shallow so i struggled feeling connected to our main characters (i found the other characters a lot more intriguing though) and it doesn't help that i found them very annoying. i tend to like "unlikeable" characters but will and rosie were boring above all else. the prose comes off quite tryhard tumblrina to me but i can see why some people might enjoy it this book just wasn't for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Addiction

yajairat's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

Overall a good read! I liked that this romance was healing for them. I love books that focus on the transformative power of relationships, especially between two people that are going through hardships. 

I was not a big fan of the lack of quotation marks in this case. I’ve read them before and had no issue, but for some reason I found myself having to reread certain parts of the book. I also thought there was not enough focus on some of these topics that were affecting the main characters. The analysis felt a bit half hearted to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicide

taliaalongi's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

It definitely made me feel deeply, including frustration lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Cancer, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Suicide attempt

lucyduller's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This book felt like so many other books I’ve read, and that’s not a bad thing. All of the books it reminded me of are books I’ve liked, One Day, Normal People, Where Rainbows End, People We Meet on Vacation - but it was missing something that meant I didn’t like it as much. 

I really liked the fleshing out of the characters, I think Claire Daverley did that really well, but I wish there was more social commentary because it ended up feeling like it was stuck in limbo between a romance and a literary fiction, and I think the thing that classifies a book outside of a romance is when a book becomes about so much more. For instance, Normal People explores ideas of class, gender, communication, love in the era of social media, mental health, abuse, and so much more. Whilst this book had elements of that (Rosie has OCD and trauma from death of a loved one, as well as an eating disorder inherited by her mum) it felt unexplored and limited. At first the book is structured in a before and after a big event, but that is lost in the second half of the book and feels a bit messy. 

Also, the absence of quotation marks is something I love when it’s done well, and I don’t think it was done well enough here for it to always be clear when someone is talking or who is talking. When reading Sally Rooney, however, it doesn’t even register that there are no quotation marks because it flows so well. 

I was surprised to see that this was published by Penguin, because it felt like more of a debut novel by a new author but I think it is Penguin’s alternative to Sally Rooney, as she publishes with a competing independent publishing house.

I did like the ending, I was worried Daverley was going to be cruel to us but she wasn’t and I think it’s a lovely ending to a nice book. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, but it doesn’t get the 5 stars I was hoping it might.  Perhaps my expectations were too high at the start and if I’d gone in knowing nothing I would have enjoyed it more so maybe a fault with the reader and not the author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Cancer

chris_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dysphoria, Cancer, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, and Medical content

elisacarlene's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Eating disorder, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

bella_cavicchi's review

emotional reflective 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

This has my name written all over it, Daverley's stunning, understated writing the clear highlight. It feels particularly resonant when questions of what one (I) wants to do in life, à la Mary Oliver, weigh heavily.

Recommend, and with pleasure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Sexual content, Infidelity, Cancer, and Medical content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy