Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Elämäni seinäruusuna by Stephen Chbosky

216 reviews

mirandyli's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed reading this book in high school. It was a sweet coming-of-age story about making friends who love you for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Abortion

lydias1's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

5.0

One of my favourite books; a treat to re-read. I love it so much and it feels so comfortable to read it. It makes me feel so seen and accepted - even when I don’t relate to the characters I feel like I can bring my whole self to this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Drug use, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Child abuse

Moderate: Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Car accident and Infidelity

naima0615's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual harassment

racheltrow_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Incest, Car accident, and Homophobia

maguire_m03's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Car accident, Self harm, and Rape

justmonkey57's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Grief, and Drug use

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, and Sexual assault

jlebon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

The classic coming of age story.

This was a good, enjoyable read and certainly worth the hype that surrounds this book. Whilst its role as a modern literary classic might be overstating the texts significance, it is certainly worthy of its cult-classic status and perfectly encapsulates the undercurrent of emotion associated with young adult fiction, whilst still prevailing with that poignant message of hope all teenagers deserve to read.

A key plaudit I have for the book is the realism of every character, with Chbosky not being confined in his writing to create a character solely around the common tropes associated with the genre - eg. the villain. Every character possesses their own flaws and yet each can be said to win the readers affection (at least some point in the novel) as Chbosky intelligently isolates the actions of an individual (be that good or bad) from who they are as a person (not being defined by the adjective used to describe their actions).

Aunt Helen is the most interesting character for me in this respect, given the revelation at the end of the novel that she sexually assaulted the protagonist, (her nephew) Charlie, when he was younger. Given the narrative voice, we're are able to see Charlie ultimately grapple with her actions (with herself being a victim as well) and yet still rationalise the reprehensibility of her actions. The passage, 'So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.’ beautifully captures this overwhelming moral conflict and allows the reader to further contextualise Charlie as a character.

On reflection, one problem I do have with the novel is the lack of development around the theme of suicide. Being integral to the start of the book, I would have liked there to have been greater exploration into the effect of losing a close friend under such tragic circumstances. In fairness there is an element of juxtaposition between the characters of Charlie and Susan as to how they handle the death of their close friend Michael, culminating in the protagonists confrontation of the latter. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel that the theme is used more as a device to deceive the reader over Charlie's true deep-rooted trauma (unearthed at the climax of the novel) rather than being given the equal and worthy explanation of how an event as scarring as that would impact an individual.

In terms of the writing generally, I appreciate the epistolary format that makes the book easily digestible, as well as the teenage narrative perspective that means the writing is less dense than that of adult fiction. The novel is certainly humorous in places, particularly in the frivolous tone sometimes taken towards more serious societal issues. As an example I found the offhanded comment of 'Fritz's girlfriend was talking to him about women's rights, and he kept saying, "I know, baby."' very funny. However, the book also has a real profound nature in places. Don't get me wrong, this is not in the hyper-cynical way of adult fiction but the idea of Charlie as this 'wallflower', perceptive to everything and everyone, is captured very well.

Do I think this book has had the world-shaking effect on me like with other people? Probably not. Nevertheless, did I find myself engaged with the story and will the message of the book stick with me? I'd like to think so.

An enjoyable read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Sexual violence

Minor: Car accident, Suicide, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexual content, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Domestic abuse

sea_sea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

4.75

This book was almost 5 stars for me, but not quite because it was pretty triggering sometimes. I would definitely recommend it, but would also recommend to definitely look through the tws. I think this book is really special in a way, that probably everyone will see themselves in the book somehow. It articulates thoughts and feelings very well and gives you stuff to think about. This book dives into so many heavy topics, it’s a really good but also difficult read! 
I think the book really showcases how messy, beautiful, confusing and hard it is to be a teenager.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Homophobia, Abortion, Outing, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, and Dysphoria

muriel__my's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Very warming for my little heart to read this. I'm only 3 months apart from graduating of high school, and this book feels so close to home and it kind of gives me a lot of hope. I finished this book in one day, it's almost 1 A.M when I'm writing this, but I feel like my heart is having hope about things changing for better and life giving me better opportunities when I need them. So I just wanted to say that this is a really recommended lecture, it just serves as a warm hug during difficult times.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Alcohol

gwarren's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

The perks of being a wallflower is one of those books that's stayed with me since the first time I read it. Having re-read countless times in my teens, I can see now, as a mid-to-late-twenties person, why it resonated with me so much (and still does). Charlie is someone who I connect with on a very emotional level, both with how he looks at like and his mental health issues, Sam with her emotional baggage but wisdom beyond her years, and Patrick, who's lightheartedness and love of humour fills the pages with much needed lightness. As the years roll on and I get older, I will keep coming back to this story. And I will continue to recommend it to my students, my family and my friends throughout my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Bullying, Homophobia, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Eating disorder, Abortion, Addiction, Bullying, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse