Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

I Know You Remember by Jennifer Donaldson

5 reviews

itzbrianna's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Ruthie hasn’t been back at Anchorage for three years. Her mother took her and fled to Portland, Oregon. But after her mother dies she’s back in her hometown with her estranged dad and his new family. And the only thing Ruthie can think about is seeing her best friend, Zahra. But when Ruthie goes to school and finds out that Zahra is missing her world seems to spin. And she can’t think, do, or even breathe without thinking about her. 

This book has all the makings of a typical mystery novel. You’ve got the crime, the underlying subplots that draw suspicion, and the list of all the possible people it could be. But Jennifer Donaldson really throws you for a loop. 

I Know You Remember is a tense and fast paced mystery built on secrets and deceit. While reading this, I thought I had figured everything out and I was almost right until the climax of the story. This book will take you on a whirlwind and honestly, you might end up rereading it just to see all the things you missed. 

If you love mysteries that will shock you with every twist and turn then this book is for you. I HIGHLY recommend. 

****The following section contains what some would consider spoilers*****

My biggest gripe I had with this book was all the questions left unanswered. 
1) How did Ruthie’s mom find out? 
2) What is the diagnosis? 
3) And what about Tabitha’s own obsession? 

Honestly, I should read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Child death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Misogyny, Racism, Gaslighting, Classism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

savreads28's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Death, Child death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Infidelity

thewildnorry's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: If you never would have guessed the twist, it's not a good twist.  

The big issue is that the author hardly put any work into foreshadowing it. There were about four and two half instances of foreshadowing that I could count: 

 
The twist? Ruthie is not actually Zahra's bff who moved away cuz her parents were divorced. She's Zahra's ex-bff who roped Zahra into covering up a murder and threatened to hurt Zahra should she ever tell anyone about it or distance herself. She's a psychotic stalker, not a concerned best friend. 

And here is the "foreshadowing". 

• Her mother moving with her suddenly to Portland. (This is a stretch as it also isn't really explained how her mother knows about Bailey and the move happens the day after Ruthie kills her.)
• The absurdity of her mother dying by falling off a cliff, and it being the first time that Ruthie ever went hiking with her. 
• The way she didn't remember how she was mean to Seb.
• Her comment that being in a friendship of two was better than three.
• The nickname of Ruthless. (This is, again, also a stretch.)
• Her reaction to the violence she commits against Grace.  

You might notice that I did not add in Ruthie's mechanical descriptions of her disassociation or other characters noticing her go far away and fall into herself. That's because it's not really foreshadowing. It's a way that a lot of people deal with traumatic events and depression. I don't think I've ever heard someone describing someone with a violent personality disorder in such a way.

I'm guessing based on the epilogue that the author was going for Dissociative Identity Disorder that grew out of a reaction to her father's alcoholism, and that's why she can't remember and is so ok with having two personalities for herself and Zahra. Unfortunately, having different identities is a thing a lot of imaginative kids and writers do. It's a fact that the author could have used to her advantage, but we unfortunately didn't get any moments of Lyr's cold absolutism shining through. Just Ruthie's resurfacing. The book suffers for this because if there'd been just hints (other than her conversation with Seb) of, for example, her scaring her father when they have an argument or saying something that Ingrid brings up later as concerning, that would have done a lot to foreshadow.

The ending of this book felt rushed. For one thing, it relied very heavily on an info-dump and detailed flashback sequence at the end of the book in order for the plot twist to make sense. Without the big info-dump at the end, I don't think anyone would have figured out the twist or even realized there was going to be a twist? This book was not written in a way that made readers feel like they were missing out on on some information.

Sure, I was wondering if we'd know what happened to Bailey, but I also wouldn't have been surprised if the author's answer was that the town never found out because of her circumstances whereas Zahra was found and saved because of hers. It'd be an interesting commentary and not farfetched from some of the other themes the author put forth.

Due to the lack of foreshadowing, the twist almost seemed like it was tacked on because the author finished the book and then was told by the publishers to make it longer. So, she added in the new ending, threw in a couple of hints and called it a day. As it stands now, the book feels like it's over at 85% but then there's a last second twist nobody asked for that makes it go on for another hour and a half or so. Plus the final confrontation just ends up ending. Like nothing happened to cause the confrontation to stop. It just...did.

So, once again: If the twist comes out of nowhere, it's not a good twist.

Besides that though, and the fact that it was rather slow going, I only had one other major issue with the book which is that the choice of and inclusion of the love interest was weird and concerning.

Even without the twist, I was sitting there the whole time like: Girl, why?

Ok, I lied, while explaining this book to a friend, I realized that the title doesn't make sense or even come into play until 85% of the way through the book. So it's a bad title. 

That said, there were things the author did that I really enjoyed and thought was well done.

- I thought the author was really clever in their use of the name ruth. I especially liked that she added in the Bible reference in a way that made sense to the story while also giving the reader a hint as to the meaning of her name.

- I also really liked the description of and treatment of the character of Bailey. Having worked with students in similar situations, I found the characterization dead on and very humanizing. 

- The characterization of Grace was also well-done. We get glimmers of who she really is before we find out the whole picture at the end of the book.

Which makes it all the more disappointing we don't get this for Ruthie.

All in all, it's an ok read. Quick and a great background book if you got the audiobook. Would I recommend it though? Nah. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, and Child abuse

Minor: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Racism, and Vomit

Main character probably has Dissociative Identity Disorder, but it's really poorly explained and explored. It's more of a last second add-on.

bookbirdie09's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

jojo_fiction_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

 Ruth has just moved back to her childhood town in Alaska after the tragic death of her mother. Surrounded by her formerly absentee father and his new family, all Ruth wants is to be reunited with her childhood best friend, Zahra. But just days before Ruth returns home, Zahra is seen leaving a party, drunk and wandering into the woods, and disappears. In an attempt to find her missing friend she joins Zahra’s friend group, and Ruth has to come to terms with not only the physical disappearance of her old friend, but also the disappearance of the girl she thought she knew in her memories. She discovers just how little she knows about this new version of her old friend, or, did she just not really know her friend at all?

This book was fantastic. It was gripping, full of twists and turns and I was completely shell shocked by the plot twist at the end. In hindsight I could see the hints but I just never picked up on them until everything was explained. It was exactly what I love in a mystery. This book really got into my head, which honestly is the mark of a good story in my mind, for it to stick with me, and for me to keep thinking about it, even a few days after I finished reading it. I read it all in one day, I honestly couldn't put it down!

One thing I didn't love was the church plot line. It was very extreme (I know there are many extremist churches out there, that's not what I had issues believing), but I think it was too unbelievable that Ruth’s dad would be so passionate about that particular church, and for there to be no reasoning as to why. I understand the Step-mom’s loyalty to the community as opposed to the pastor and the teachings but I just didn't understand the dad’s logic. And I felt like there was no conclusion with the rest of the religious plot line. Everything just went on as before. A very minor criticism in the long run but it took me out of the story a bit while reading it. 

Overall, if you’re a fan of YA mysteries/thrillers, I think this is just the kind of book you’d enjoy!

As I write this spoiler/rant section it is midnight and I have just finished reading this book. I haven't felt so shaken by a book in a long, long time. Maybe because Ruth was so believable, even in her own thoughts? And you really get into her head. I remember thinking it was weird that she didn't seem too bothered by her mom dying but oh my god I had no idea that she killed her. I just thought she was numbing herself to the pain, and distracting herself from feeling anything by focusing completely on Zahra. I was disgusted to have been rooting for this character, to want her to be reunited with her friend. This book was so fun to read, even if it shook me up, I want to go back and reread it to see all the hints I missed when I first read it.

 

Rating: 4.5/5

Content warnings: Violence, child death, religious trauma, mental illness

Minor: addiction, drug abuse 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Drug abuse and Addiction