Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden

44 reviews

cjmrand's review against another edition

5.0

This book feels a little bit pretentious in all the right ways, in the ways that satisfy my little no-plot-just-vibes loving heart. The formatting, the prose, the characters and the perspectives - who wouldn't want to read from a desk's perspective? And although some people didn't like it, the 'twist' (it's not a twist but I don't really know what to call it; the shift in narrative?) felt good to me. It didn't make any of what happened before less real for me, it didn't diminish its meaning.

It's quite impressive to me that the poems struck a chord when I would never usually enjoy poetry, I think that shows just how impactful the content and the writing style was for me. I loved how Godden captured so many small things so accurately and described them so perfectly in a way that made the story feel so close to life in a good way: how England is written actually, for once, feels like the England I know - I wrote this in my notes while reading: "I really feel like Godden has just perfectly captured the modern day in England, all the tiny details are just. So. Good. Like yeah, of course there's the 'sweet smell of vapes' in the air - of course there fucking is". Plus, the references to Tory apathy and Grenfell and so much else without ever explicitly stating those things was so good.
Godden manages to bottle the real world and put in this book, especially with the main themes of the consistent undervaluing and disregarding of women and ethnic minorities in society, more so with women who are ethnic minorities, and even more so with black women. My notes from page 163:"'it is exhausting how much space men want and how much credit and control man wants to take for mankind' And here I am immediately assuming that the Doctor is male. The bias is so deeply ingrained in me, in all of us."
I want to buy this book and write in the margins and put names of the people I love in the back, and I NEVER want to write in my books. That's significant to me.

The only complaint I have about this book is the occasional overuse of profanity (I feel so old even typing out the word 'profanity', ugh) - what I mean by this is the repetition of one word to an excessive point one one page or so. The repetitive use of "cunt" and talking about fucking and stuff reminded me a bit of those modern art pieces that are meant solely to shock the audience. These parts made me feel a bit iffy, but while they did make me squirm in the moment, it's honestly easy to breeze past them with how good the rest of the book is.

This book is so damn good in every other way though - content, pace, format, every word - and I couldn't stop reading, I was always excited for more. Books about death are my thing right now, I think they provide comfort on such a taboo topic, and this one covers so much more. If you're in the right mental space for it, I would heavily recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

nreyno's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

leanneymu's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Part poem, part fiction, part memoir, part folklore, this is a really interesting piece of writing. Occasionally, I found the looseness of the narrative a bit difficult to follow - and the continuous repetition made it feel like a written speech, rather than a novel, as such - but overall, I really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

maybephasing's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Pedophilia

keeganrb's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, and Suicide

aelillie's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse

leabhar_love's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping and Alcoholism

Minor: Car accident

thalianni's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Slavery, War, Suicide, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Violence, and Terminal illness

dlsmk's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Minor: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism

whiterabbitslibrary's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This isn’t a story in a traditional sense and that’s no bad thing. It reads more like a collection of notes, poems, diary entries and other assorted papers and for me it evokes the idea of sorting through a loved ones papers when they have died, teasing out the connections, why these things are kept together. 
The narrative perspective shifts between the “narrator” Wolf and the titular character “Mrs Death” and others occasionally seem to take on the role in tandem but in each case the prose is intriguing, intense and somehow both ferocious and reflective. I really enjoyed this book, and I expect to come back to it again and again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse and War