Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

26 reviews

swewovsky's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

orizenda's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked this book except for the romance, which I didn’t realize would be such a large plot element. Like to me this felt like a love story with some other weird fucked up stuff happening around it and then some genuine emotions. I would have liked it a lot better if it had been about Maeve and Kate ijs i think a love story there would be a lot more potentially interesting. but like interesting plot elements, although sometimes i think it feels like there’s too much going on for such a short story. idk. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.25

This is a well-written and interesting story with a unique and somewhat unbalanced protagonist with feminist-leaning sensibilities. While the flow of the storyline is pretty tight, at times it felt a little slow to me, but around 60-70% it became quite engaging.

The bottom line is that I don’t care for body horror or sexual content, especially when they’re combined. Even though the body horror and sexual content in this book are relatively mild and the author doesn’t go into a lot of detail, it was still, personally, more than I want to read. With that said, it works for the main character, Maeve Fly, and the story, just not for this reader.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Sosie Bacon. The personality and vocal inflections Ms. Bacon brought to all the characters fit perfectly, but I thought the huskiness of her voice took a little getting used to at the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Rape, and Murder

Minor: Gore

mxpringle's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.25

This is probably one of the most depraved and bizarre books I've ever read, which is definitely saying something. I feel like I could've used more background as to how the events that happened in Maeve's life or thoughts she had led her to doing certain actions in the book, because a lot of the actions she did just seemed so off the rails that I couldn't see any human reasoning behind it anymore. It kind of felt like the things she did were just like trying to get a reaction out of the reader rather than being authentic character development. However, this was still overall a really interesting/enjoyable read (though very dark and depraved). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Mental illness, Rape, Medical content, Blood, Gore, Murder, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Toxic relationship and Pregnancy

sarahnink's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, and Sexual content

atmissv's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

4.5

I loved this book, but it is DARK! I read a review that compared it with American Psycho, and that is an apt comparison - though this one has more moments of (dark dark pitch black) humor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Bullying, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

trashgobby's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Bullying

Minor: Classism, Cursing, Misogyny, Vomit, Suicide, and Body shaming

recklessric's review

dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

Just going to wrap all this in a spoiler tag since I'm not 100% sure how that works. This book starts out feverish in the best way before a bit of a mid book lull and then and end that does a pretty good job of misdirection before the twist. This issue for me, though was that the twist comes so late that it makes the last 1/3 of the book a bit of a chore because it feels like it's heading for something cliched and obvious so I like the ending but didn't enjoy getting there. Also I think this book contradicts itself a lot in terms of its philosophy and the philosophy of the characters which was ultimately a bit of a let down. I think it strives to be something more than shock value slasher fare and that's admirable but ultimately that's all this is to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, and Torture

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What a deeply disturbing and fantastic book.

Have was such an unhinged character but I somehow rooted for her and was utterly devastated by the ending.

There was a humorous yet strange scene that was definitely an ode to Patrick Batemen watching himself having sex.

This was such a captivating story. It was like a train wreck - I just couldn't look away. Every time I put the book down, it was all I could think about.

It had me physically cringing in disgust and shouting out in disturbance and I loved every moment of it.

This is going to stick with me for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Torture

fairygodfish's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

Hmm. Could have done without

the sexual assault. It didn’t add anything to the experience and kind of ruined the tone

. Other than that I honestly quite enjoyed it, think the author has a few views on womanhood I don’t quite agree with but would love to talk to them about. Would also love a Tallulah Fly-centric book. 

At the end of the day it’s extreme horror and some of it is horror is for the sake of being shocking. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for me,

aside from, once again, the sexual assault

. Sometimes the camp tone feels forced but sometimes it’s kind of awesome. I definitely appreciate the character of Maeve Fly and am glad she’s out in the world. Contained in these pages. Please god, nobody let Maeve Fly out in the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Torture, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion