Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

42 reviews

annakillilea's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

rhi_'s review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

scewart's review

emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

This is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read. Talking at Night feels like the more emotional, complex, and poetic sibling to Love Rosie and Normal People. The story is such a spectacular journey through grief, self discovery, and ultimately love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

m_liz's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Cancer

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Eating disorder

brynpemery's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol and Body shaming

rhii_reading's review

dark 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

4.75

Initially this seemed like a fairly standard romance but as the novel progresses this evolves into a really poignant story that spans across the years. The attention to detail when it comes to the characters and even settings really work to feel like you’ve travelled with Rosie and Will throughout their entire lives across a couple hundred pages.

Whilst I found the novel engaging even towards the end, it did start to feel a little repetitive with the constant miscommunication between Will and Roise. However, this is where the world building comes in handy as my investment in these characters meant that I didn’t mimd as much.

A story that beautifully weaves between the lives of its two main characters and finds ways to constantly draw them back towards each other.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death

Moderate: Mental illness and Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

lydj's review

reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide attempt

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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

4.0

 This month has been heavy with literary fiction. No surprise since it’s Woman in Translation month and Booker season. But I felt in need of a palate cleanser and Talking at Night fit the bill perfectly. Will has a reputation as a bad boy. Rosie is most decidedly a good girl. Yet when they are teens a sweet almost-romance begins to blossom between them until a terrible tragedy intervenes and drives them apart. And yet they cannot fully ever let the other go and reconnect occasionally over the years, despite trying to and appearing to move on with the their lives. I have a soft spot for a good “the one that got away/ what might have been” storyline. This one has some solid mental health representation (OCD and depression) plus an LGBTQIA+ storyline. I liked both Will and Rosie as characters, although I was frustrated by the way Rosie seemed to use Will. I applauded their eventual growth and evolution. There is a trigger warning for cancer, but overall this was just the light, undemanding, enjoyable read that I needed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Abandonment, and Cancer

reads_eats_explores's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

One cold November night, teenagers Will and Rosie meet while sitting around a bonfire, surrounded by their school friends, including Rosie’s twin brother and Will’s good friend, Josh. 

This is a story as old as time – the overprivileged, shy, straight-A girl who falls for the achingly handsome, wrong-sides-of-the-track bad boy. 

But maybe as we follow Will and Rosie on their ‘will they/won’t they’ journey, things will not be quite as they seem.

Talking at Night begins in a small Norfolk town in the 1990s and is split into three parts entitled ‘before’, ‘after’, and ‘long after’, and as the book unravels, we learn about the shared traumas that give reason behind these headings.

The book overall felt very YA in narrative style, and I suppose 20-year-old me would lap this up; 40-year-old me wanted a grittier read that I could really get my teeth into.

Saying that, I did enjoy the read and found it nostalgia inducing and highly immersive (a book to binge in one or two long lazy sittings) once I got over my initial irritation with Rosie, much preferring Wills's point of view and backstory. I'll certainly read more from this author in future; this is undoubtedly a solid debut. 3.5⭐

Many thanks to the author and publisher for this advance copy. As always, this is an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Addiction, Violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Vomit, Abandonment, Car accident, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcohol, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

meg_anne719's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Mental illness