Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

44 reviews

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

aeryn_d's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-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

4.5

I really loved a lot about this book. I loved how character-focused it was, and I think it did a really amazing job of handling such difficult topics like death and grief. It lived its truth as a fantasy story, providing a space for a conversation about grief and life and death to live without defining anything. It holds messages of loving what you've got when you've got it, what makes life worth living, and the concept that nothing lasts forever but nothing is ever truly gone. Klune's writing style and specific breed of characters also come through remarkably well once more, and it's a very comforting book to read, despite the fact that it's about death. It's not quite to the level of House on the Cerulean Sea (then again, what could be?) but it comes close, and if you're looking for something else that fits the vibe, this is definitely one to check out. Also definitely recommend if you like The Good Place.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicide

headachesince03's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Murder, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content and Homophobia

batwinggoth's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

The book has a slow start, but the delivery of main character's struggles and inner monologue are written whimsically and humorous which is a great balance to the dark and heavy themes of the novel. The characters are all written well with great detail to each. The story's narrative is well encompassing of both predictable story progression and the pleasantly unexpected that pull you even deeper into the story being told.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Car accident, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

The book is centered around dead people and meeting people from all walks of life as they die in various ways - understanding and helping them process their dead and pass. Most characters are complicated and real with great detail of their emotions, feelings, and inner dialogue and they process their life and what happened to them or what they're currently going through. There's a child

who died from terminal illness whose mother is actively grieving and constantly visiting the tea shop (central setting of the book).

There's a character who we meet who was

murdered in an ally who recounts his death and expresses his extreme anger drastically.

There's a character who was bullied and emotionally abused

by his parents and experiences a sudden loss of his partner in the hospital and ends up dying by suicide due to his overwhelming grief.

The main character begins as an extremely toxic, workaholic and overall extremely bitter man who had been once married to a woman, the both of whom where extremely toxic and gaslighting towards each other in the end. The sexual harassment

is only in reference to a man and a woman who visit their tea shop often and constantly hits on Hugo in inappropriate ways and in one instance the man even says he'll 'wear him down' despite Hugo already rejecting him multiple times.

The animal death

is only mentioned because a main character, Apollo, is a ghost dog who had passed.

I may have missed other important instances of tagged content, but hopefully this helps give folks a better idea about the themes who need it to determine whether reading the book is right for them. I'd say while it's not impossible to skip past some graphic subjects, death and grief are unavoidable and I would suggest you not read the book if you are actively in mourning yourself unless you find reading about other people's grief and experiences cathartic in processing your own grief.

seagirl_13's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Cancer

cakrolik's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Murder, Self harm, and Violence

ridesthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

5.0

Dear God in heaven, this book 😭😭😭😭

What a deeply beautiful story. This is an exploration of grief that is so completely hopeful and genuine, I don't have words. The relationships, the found family, the growth. It's just great stuff. 

Hilarious and sweet and tragic aka IT'S MY SHIT PLEASE READ THIS BOOK 

(do mind the trigger warnings though, this one deals with some heavy topics)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Child death, Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Confinement and Animal death

jmariereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, Murder, and Self harm

celestriakle's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-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

Very sweet, very comforting, I cried at least 5 times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Cancer, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Self harm, Car accident, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Animal death

jmitchell20's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.0

I never got the emotional gutpunch from this book that most other reviewers seem to get. 
For me, it felt too long and dragged and repeated itself in a lot of places. it did bring up a lot of interesting discussions around death and grief but I just never really connected with it on an emotional level.  Nevertheless the writing is beautiful and the author paints a vivid picture of the teashop and its inhabitants. But time to move on to something cheerier I think. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Death, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, and Self harm