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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
Lily en de octopus by Steven Rowley, Aleid van Eekelen-Benders
5 reviews
faerietears's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
3.75
This is a book about a middle aged man, Ted, and his dog, Lily. They’re best friends. They love one another. But when an “octopus” appears on Lily’s head one day and won’t leave, Ted begins to spiral.
This book is pure magical realism, which is fine, but it’s something I personally struggle with in literature. I love paranormal and fantasy as much as the next girl, but I need RULES. I need to be able to understand what’s actually real and what’s not. And with this book, I struggled. This isn’t a criticism of the book, it’s a ME PROBLEM. But that’s the main reason I couldn’t give the book a higher rating.
This book jumps between the present and Ted’s memories of Lily throughout her life. At times, seemingly pointless, but each memory has a purpose in the story.
Ted is clearly struggling with life and depression and Lily’s predicament isn’t helping. (Spoiler alert: it’s not REALLY an actual, literal, octopus on her head.)
Meanwhile, like the dog she is, Lily is nearly always happy and living in the NOW. She’s a true joy.
But this isn’t a happy book. This is a book about a man doing whatever he can to save his dog’s life. And the way the story is told is both joyful and heart wrenching. I’m not ashamed to say I cried. And I’m honestly not the biggest fan of dogs. (Childhood fear. I’ll share the story if you ask nicely.)
So bring your tissues because Lily & the Octopus is probably worth your time.
This book is pure magical realism, which is fine, but it’s something I personally struggle with in literature. I love paranormal and fantasy as much as the next girl, but I need RULES. I need to be able to understand what’s actually real and what’s not. And with this book, I struggled. This isn’t a criticism of the book, it’s a ME PROBLEM. But that’s the main reason I couldn’t give the book a higher rating.
This book jumps between the present and Ted’s memories of Lily throughout her life. At times, seemingly pointless, but each memory has a purpose in the story.
Ted is clearly struggling with life and depression and Lily’s predicament isn’t helping. (Spoiler alert: it’s not REALLY an actual, literal, octopus on her head.)
Meanwhile, like the dog she is, Lily is nearly always happy and living in the NOW. She’s a true joy.
But this isn’t a happy book. This is a book about a man doing whatever he can to save his dog’s life. And the way the story is told is both joyful and heart wrenching. I’m not ashamed to say I cried. And I’m honestly not the biggest fan of dogs. (Childhood fear. I’ll share the story if you ask nicely.)
So bring your tissues because Lily & the Octopus is probably worth your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Mental illness and Violence
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
3.25
Finished reading: March 28th 2024
“If you spend your entire life trying to cheat death, there's no time left over to embrace life.”
I love books with animals playing an important role in the plot, so I'm still not sure how Lily And The Octopus has escaped my radar for this long. I loved the sound of the bond between main character Ted and his elderly dog Lily, and I even added it to my list of 2024 priorities in the hope I would read it sooner than later. It still took me longer than expected to actually pick it up, but what I didn't expect either was that I was going to end up having mixed thoughts instead. Things started out on a high note and initially I was loving the unique and whimsical writing style where the dog Lily has her own voice and the main character has active conversations with her. It had all the signs of becoming a high rating, but I have to say that this same uniqueness started to grate after a while. I mean, don't people around Ted see that he is completely delusional? Still, I was intrigued and entertained enough to keep reading, up until that ridiculous and overlong boat scene. This is exactly where the story lost me, and the pace was getting slower and slower even before that. That said, there were some nice deeper messages and definitely prepare to have some tissues at hand just in case. Lily And The Octopus had a fantastic start and I enjoyed the ending and message, but it was the middle where everything just became too muddled and over the top for me. I was enjoying the magical realism, but that part just took things WAY too far for me and completely ruined the reading experience (especially since it didn't even make sense). Anyhow, I can't deny that it is a story you won't forget any time soon either way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Vomit, Animal death, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, and Mental illness
prairieraven's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sobbed so much. Heartbreaking and an amazing book in the worst way (all the feelings and grief)
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity, Grief, Cancer, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Terminal illness, and Mental illness
readers_pov's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
3.75
✒️ I am not a fan of Ted the MC, but the story sucked me in. At times I disagreed with him, at times I cried with him. Ted keeps withdrawing from all the people in his family, his lifely only revolving around his beloved pet dog Lily. And his world crashes when Lily is found sick.
✒️ It took me 6 months to read this. Mostly because I couldn't stop crying and had to take breaks. Partly because I kept the book at my parents' place and could only read it when visiting. Mostly because of the crying. If you can't stomach sad stories about pets or dogs, please don't read this.
✒️ This is torture. It's beautiful and sad, gut-wrenching but hopeful and slightly nuts, but hey, a pet owner will absolutely relate to Ted the MC and Lily the elderly dachshund. Steven Rowley's writing is both slightly infuriating but sweeping. The story flows, despite me disliking the writing style. Usually disliking the writing style or the MC is enough for me to drop the book, but damn this author. He plays with my feelings with this story. I needed to know the ending. And I did. And I am glad I did. The story keeps piling up all sorts of hopelessness mixed with various moments of hope. And only in the end do we find out which wins this battle: the intensifying despair or hope?
✒️ It took me 6 months to read this. Mostly because I couldn't stop crying and had to take breaks. Partly because I kept the book at my parents' place and could only read it when visiting. Mostly because of the crying. If you can't stomach sad stories about pets or dogs, please don't read this.
✒️ This is torture. It's beautiful and sad, gut-wrenching but hopeful and slightly nuts, but hey, a pet owner will absolutely relate to Ted the MC and Lily the elderly dachshund. Steven Rowley's writing is both slightly infuriating but sweeping. The story flows, despite me disliking the writing style. Usually disliking the writing style or the MC is enough for me to drop the book, but damn this author. He plays with my feelings with this story. I needed to know the ending. And I did. And I am glad I did. The story keeps piling up all sorts of hopelessness mixed with various moments of hope. And only in the end do we find out which wins this battle: the intensifying despair or hope?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Mental illness
marinapaso11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I would’ve given it 5 stars if it wasn’t for the tiny mention of the stereotypical Inuit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Terminal illness, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol and Mental illness
Minor: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Dementia
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