Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

9 reviews

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A beautifully heartbreaking story. The writing was just exquisite, i could easily picture every scene and character with how poetically they were written. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to watch the movie and compare them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual assault

katierosecrane's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It took me a lot longer to finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was so much to digest. There are dark scenarios which I had to process. Good book but not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Mental illness, Gore, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Addiction, Rape, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

sizzlesteaks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, and Blood

Minor: Bullying

mahhias's review

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

reesespuff6's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Medical content, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Self harm

laurenwash's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I didn't love Astrid as much as I loved Delores from SCU.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Emotional abuse

hellothereforeitsalex's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A well executed story that deals with heavy topics with ease and weaves the trails and tribulations of main character Astrid’s coming of age story alongside the passage time.

⚠️READ TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Suicide

minalinalu's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

If I am honest, this was the most energy draining book I ever read. Not spesificly because of the writing style or the amount of pages (even if both of it was also challenging), it was mostly a very tiring read because of its slowness. The slowness of character actions that as they were over still seemed like they never changed the story, the slowness of devolpment that I only seemed to really notice at the very beginning and the very end, as if there was nothing but void between those two points.
I wouldn't recomend this book because for me it never seemed to give the reader anything but a challenging read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Vomit, Mental illness, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

gabriellamichalek's review

challenging inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence