Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

5 reviews

bamboopanda's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

This is such a good book.
For the people who said Vera Wong didn’t read like her age, you might try this one.

This book does not shy away from the mental nor physical problems of age, but does it in a respectful yet lighthearted way.
I really enjoyed the topics that got touched on and also really enjoyed the mystery.

“The grandson” is my favourite!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Ableism

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Cancer, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

mitzee's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This was mostly a book of self discovery under the guise of a murder mystery with multiple deaths. In some ways quite dark but also light hearted or maybe I just see it that way because the primary cast is a household of elders who live together to support each other, and that’s nice to hear about. Everyone has their quirks.

Summary for myself:

The story is told in third person but led by Agnes’ account of things. She seems like she used to be a detective or cop beaded on clues throughout the book about her “doing this kind of thing”. She seems to be mentally all there and still sharp (given that she tried to solve the murder mystery) until the end when it’s revealed that she might actually have hallucinations of her twin sister who died at a young age. 

What I liked about the book is that it treated the house hold like they were (mostly) well functioning adults. The idea of Sunset Hall is pretty nice - you live together and essentially write down when you’d want someone to remove you from this world and how you’d want to go. But I also  wonder how annoyed I would be with some people’s quirks once I get to that age. Would I be able to live with them? I guess it’s better than the alternative of living in a home.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Toxic friendship

callidoralblack's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Death, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Blood, and Car accident

ksgoetz's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Terminal illness, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious 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

4.25

I was expecting this one to be a lighthearted, banter-filled book, as I’d expect from a European cozy mystery. While it did deliver on whimsy, such as chapters told from the perspective of Hettie the House Tortoise, and bubbly side characters, this was much darker than I expected. It dealt with a lot of hard issues including: ageism, dealing with chronic pain, the impacts of getting older, and what it means to choose, to direct the life you want. Which was good, but maybe not exactly what I was looking for as a mood reader.

That being said, overall, I liked this one, and I would recommend this book to read who enjoy

• Darker cozy mysteries
• A large cast of characters
• Grumpy, curmudgeonly main characters
• Unreliable narrators
• The Thursday Murder Club series

A note on the format: I did listen to this one on audio and very much enjoyed the narrator, Moira Quirk, especially with the distinct voice choices during scenes of dialogue. Also, this book was translated to English from its original German, and had a narrator with an English accent, so I had to keep reminding myself that this is set in Germany, not the UK.

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for this advanced listening copy. I’m not sure that I’ll continue on with the series, but I did enjoy my experience with this audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Death, Confinement, Mental illness, Grief, and Fatphobia

Minor: Pedophilia and Alcohol