Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

12 reviews

s1ck4n's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Suicide

epeolatrist's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcoholism

tealattes's review

emotional funny 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

4.5

I’m not an expert on schizophrenia so I don’t know if the representation of it in the main character was exactly accurate. I don’t think the author used it to add a quirk to the main character. It was not portrayed in that way, and instead it was a constant barrier for Alex as she was trying to make it through school as smoothly as possible. The best aspect of this novel is the characters. The high school characters in the after school club were a funny bunch and I thought Miles and Alex’s backgrounds, similarities and day to day school experiences did a great job at building their friendship. The plot itself was all over the place and I don’t usually enjoy reading fiction novels with high school settings due to the repetitive themes and flat characters, but Zappia did an excellent job at forging a connection between the reader and the characters in a memorable way. I am reviewing this book about a year after I read it and I still remember the personalities of Alex and Miles. These two were fleshed out and I could understand them not because the author listed out all their qualities, like some occasionally do, but through their actions, thoughts and page time. Alex really was someone I rooted for while reading in her perspective for ~500 pages. She is full of dry humor and sarcasm and is witty and sociable but unsure of where she stands in a new school. Some YA female characters are too unrealistically full of snark such that it becomes a chore to put up with their countless remarks for the sake of creating an angsty teenage character. This was not so with Alex. Her life had its highs and lows and it was a rollercoaster. While some of the scenes were almost parodies of high school life, it was balanced out by serious situations and struggles so that the book was not all lighthearted nor tense all the way through. I appreciated this balance and enjoyed the novel as a whole. Even if some scenes were unrealistic, I believe the emotional impact rather than the exact words on the pages have greater significance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

and_the_ocean_burned's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

ameliaflint's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.25

Well-written, fascinating premise and I ADORE MILES AND ALEX'S RELATIONSHIP. That's seriously the reason this is rated higher than a typical "fine read". They're the reason I come back to this book so often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Drug use

letiross's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Sexual assault

minathefangirl's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Blood

sophie42's review

challenging dark sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual assault

ceciii's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Even though the book talks about serious topics, it's still a very light reading and so easy to get through. It's fast paced and the chapters are literally so short and I loved that!
This book made me shed a couple tears and it definitely caught me off guard with some plotwists (specially one!). I can tell you it got to a point where I was just a roller coaster of emotions

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

bubothereader's review

2.0

I struggle with this one. I enjoyed it from a reading perspective—it was a good story if you know nothing about anything the author discusses.
But as a mental health advocate, I can't support this book. Its portrayal of schizophrenia is HIGHLY inaccurate, and it's clearly being used as a literary device. It feels like Zappia didn't have a sensitivity reader for this and that's not okay. I also didn't like the sexual abuse, child abuse, and other mental illnesses being used just to further plot. They felt dropped in.
I did like the discussion of Alexithymia, but it again felt like a plot device to explain was Miles was often rude. Would have liked more discussion about how Alex felt about him and maybe them talking that out? Also, how did he find out he might be? Was it self-diagnosis? Did it come with an Autism diagnosis?
I will try Eliza and Her Monsters because I've heard it's much better and the author grows.
Do not read this book to understand schizophrenia. Read it to learn what it isn't. Delusions and hallucinations aren't the same.
This review is all over the place, but I think overall, I liked the story, but I know it's very inaccurate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault