Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

7 reviews

rubberrosebooks's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

phantomgecko's review against another edition

emotional 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

I couldn't help comparing this to The Help even though the setting is about all they share (plus a skinny white girl). I like this one better.

Though it's a pretty significant part of the story, I didn't love the Mary worship. Black Madonna? Awesome, great great honey label. But literally worshipping an idol does not appeal to me. Some of the sentiments were fine. Finding the mother within yourself and such.

I enjoy books that come with discussion questions in the back because I'm not in a book group and like thinking at least a little critically about novels. The first question in this one was about T Ray, whether it was surprising to find out he used to be different. And it led me to an appreciation of how the novel played out.

It was good that Deborah didn't turn out to be as perfect as Lily idealized. It was good that Lily had to legitimately find it within her soul to forgive her mother. It was good that she acknowledged it was a perpetual process.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Child abuse, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

orchidlilly's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

So... This was not nearly as great of a classic as I was led to expect. First of all, it succumbs to the common pitfall of all books of whatever genre this is; it's so unbearably pessimistic. Most of the book is pg torture porn wherein we watch the protagonist suffer while also getting blasted with the fact that she isn't suffering nearly as much as other people. The commentary on racism is cliche and not very well addressed. Every single black woman is the mammy stereotype, I didn't know it was even possible to have every character be the same stereotype. They all have practically no depth and no arcs of their own besides 'we exist to further the character arc of Lily'. The take on racism at the time is extremely one-sided and, pardon the wording, entirely black and white. And my biggest issue; I get that it's a coming of age novel, but the romance is, quite frankly, gross. Lily is 14, middle school age, and Zach is, from my recollection, gearing up to head into college, already weird. Then you have to factor in that completely out of the blue segment in the book where the love interest sucks honey off the main character's fingers. This scene is described in detail, about how it makes her slightly hot and bothered, and how she's also semi disgusted with herself because loving a black man is wrong. This scene is so entirely jarring and completely unnecessary that it pretty well ruined the entire book for me. The romance isn't even a main part of the book, but it's just so uncomfortable that I couldn't focus on anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Bullying

jazzreads's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide and Child abuse

savannah_c_dipasquale's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, and Police brutality

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Classism

regalreads's review

challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders

inhale_exhale_read's review against another edition

emotional 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

This is another book written by a white author about a white child being cared for by Black women in the 1960s American south. The child is struggling with issues of family and identity and is nurtured, mothered, and healed by her Black caregivers. After reading an interview with the author at the end of the book, I'm sure she had the best of intentions in writing all of these characters, but it felt really problematic to have the white child and her problems as the focus of this story, given the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement. Not to mention that the Black characters were somewhat based on the author's own childhood nanny. It all just felt a little gross. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide