Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Il suo corpo e altre feste by Carmen Maria Machado

83 reviews

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Sexual harassment, Cursing, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

lily_eames's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

One of my favorite books of 2023. Machado’s short stories are incredibly unique and diverse, combining genres in a way I’ve never seen. The only story I didn’t love was the Law and Order: SVU one, which I DNFd. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Rape, and Violence

arbramirez's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Stalking, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Blood, Sexual assault, Infertility, Incest, Drug use, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Hate crime, Sexual content, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Kidnapping

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Blood, Misogyny, and Self harm

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

janwe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Difficult to rate... Although, I did not really enjoy reading these stories, I think the exploration of themes (especially sexuality and power dynamics) were very well executed and the writingstyle is brutally harsh and beautifully poetic at the same time. 
BUT, and that has rather to do with my personal reading tastes at the moment, than with the stories and their contents ...
 I AM soo over that kind of "vulgar sexual content"...  I don't know... I just couldn't care less about it... That definitely influenced my reading experience..
Additionally, due to the blurb on the back, I expected the short stories to be weirder, and dip more into SF and horror (it is horror - but rather everyday horror of the female experience in society)... 
I guess, I am not the right audience for these kind of literary short stories 🤷‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Rape

frogreads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

This book is lovingly and hauntingly well-written. Even though i didn't understand the analogies in some stories (and looked up each story after) i adored the way each one was written. I am left both hollow and full; the way a truly good book does. 

The only reason this is not marked higher is because of my difficulty of understanding. Some of these stories are red hot wires of pain and trauma and then they're gone- and im left grasping to find the purpose of the story itself. I look forward to the day the author releases a longform story and we are allowed to grow, blossom, and die with the main characters. 

Her characters are deep from the start and complicated like a dream you barely remember. All of these stories are feminist, predominantly queer, and have an edge of mental health and i appreciate them for that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

In my opinion some of these stories read like you are going through a dissociative fugue. You jump around and know as much as the main character does to the point where you are affected too-left feeling lost and confused, but taken all the same. This is very much in the stories The Resident and Mothers. Could be triggering for those who experience dissociation and/or derealization.

intoblossom's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Eating disorder, and Misogyny

gabbybobadilla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

lady_valhella's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is like an anthology of short stories. Some are interesting, some are intense but they are all a bit strange. One was especially hard to follow so i skipped it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Mental illness

jess_18's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I definitely thought the first short story ‘husband stitch’ was the best, it was upsetting but written very well. Some of the stories went over my head a bit but I think they were all good and told an interesting narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Pregnancy, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Emotional abuse