Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong

5 reviews

anarmandameg's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Suicide, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Stalking, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Murder

heydri's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

This was so amazingly written and constructed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Blood, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Classism, and Gun violence

Minor: Car accident and Cancer

whenjessreads's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.5

It was initially difficult to tell what genre Liar, Dreamer, Thief fit into - was it literary fiction? Magical realism? A thriller? Some sort of contemporary take on the difficulties of trying to live an average life when your mind is anything but average? Maybe all of the above.

I’ll give you a super brief run down: the MC is a queer Korean-American train-wreck of a human being, who is lightly stalking someone she works with… until she watches him jump off a bridge (while blaming it on her), and has to put aside her rituals and obsessions that keep her safe in order to figure out just what the f*** is going on. Oh, and also attempt to keep her head in the real world, instead of the children’s-book-Korean-fantasy-land that she occasionally lives in. Yup.

I adore books that blur the line between reality and fantasy, and I love that this book did so through the lens of mental illness and an unreliable narrator. Not knowing whether the mystery was real or imagined was something that definitely kept me going.

I also really enjoy reading first person narration when the MC has a psyche like a bowl of noodles. (Maybe it just feels more familiar 😂)

One personal issue - I just think I’ve read a few too many books over the past few years with the formula “average girl sees something bad happen and automatically becomes a questionably amateur detective”, otherwise I might have rated this one higher. I also think the pacing was off in places, and the bad guy was a little one-dimensional. 

Honestly though, the MC was so messy and complex that I enjoyed this book anyway - and probably would have enjoyed it even without the mystery aspect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Car accident, Stalking, Cancer, and Gun violence

azazellos_fang's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Stalking, Ableism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Suicide