Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Tady, teď a tehdy by Mike Chen

4 reviews

wordyanchorite's review against another edition

adventurous sad 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? No

3.5

I didn't think there was much left to be done with time travel stories. Chen keeps the well-worn setup from feeling stale by centering the book on relationships and the conflicts the protagonist faces in choosing between two time periods.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment

novella42's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-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

5.0

I blasted through this book in a single day! A word of advice: go into Mike Chen's work looking for "sci-fi with feelings" and let go of expectations around world-building--his specialty is really getting into the relationships of his characters, delving into the impact of sci-fi elements on their lives and hearts, and he does it with such compassion. The emotional resonance of this book practically vibrated off the page. I cried several times in a beautiful catharsis. 

I'm amazed I enjoyed this as much as I did, because I usually get really annoyed with all the "timey-wimey" paradox tropes of most time travel fiction. But this was so grounded in the people, in what it all meant to their human connections, that I didn't really mind. 

I discovered Mike Chen through the Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast, episode 34, The Reluctant Worldbuilder, and hearing Chen describe his writing priorities and strategies for reverse-engineering his worlds may have made this book more enjoyable for me. I can't wait to read more!

BRB, gonna go put all of Mike Chen's books on my library hold list!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Animal death, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Violence, Gaslighting, and Ableism

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Toxic relationship

Spoiler for three content warnings that aren't in the drop-down list, related to migraines, memories, and age:

A significant part of the book is spent on the POV character struggling with memory loss, regaining his memories, losing them again, finding them again, etc. Much of this is punctuated with chronic pain, headaches, and migraine-like symptoms. I struggle with migraines and memory issues from C-PTSD, and lost a loved one to Alzheimer's, and at first I wasn't sure I could handle these themes. It ended up being okay for me this time, but I wanted to make people aware of it in case those are heavy topics for you. Also, the tag I included for ableism is specifically for ageism.

emmajuned's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Intricate time travel, solid all the way through. Loved it. Every time travel cliche is here but we go through them into the emotional drama that drives the scene. Totally satisfying Even when the plot took a turn I didn’t want. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Car accident

Minor: Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

bel017's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective sad

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

I really enjoyed this meditation on the frustrations of being a small cog in an overwhelmingly large machine.
I love that I read an entire book where the main character's

name is Quinoa. That made me laugh :)

. While I noticed the devices used to plug holes in the time-travelling story, I felt they were sufficiently well woven in. The world building was excellent - every time I had to stop reading I found it hard to get my head back in the real world. So saying, I did find I could put the book down, as it was predictable and not too tense. Which was great for me, but the tag line of 'anywhere and any-when' makes it sound like it's going to be more of a fast paced adventure all over the timeline, so I think that tag line sets readers up for disappointment. This isn't Timeless. It's a story about frustration and family and compassion and compromise. The time travel is a device to facilitate the story, rather than the point of it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Medical content, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Car accident