Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

28 reviews

lilly_anne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Vomit, and Police brutality

danajoy's review

challenging dark reflective tense

• 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

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, Death, Violence, Racial slurs, and War

Moderate: Child death, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Police brutality

michelejenn's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

albanana's review

emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Racism, Hate crime, Mental illness, War, Gun violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Islamophobia

iamondrea's review

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Mental illness

Moderate: Death and Racism

durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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

4.75

I'm a Malaysian, and the only thing I knew about 13th May was that it was a bloodbath fueled by racism and it was something I used to include in my essays about unity to make me sound smart. I don't recall anyone really talking about it and I was too much of a coward to find out for myself. Although it took a while, I'm glad I finally read this book. Besides covering the incident itself and the racism issue behind it, the author also did a fine job—in my opinion—writing about anxiety, OCD, and the stigma surrounding mental illness in Malaysia. Even a half-century later, the things mentioned in the book is still quite prominent. That, to me, was all too real and just devastating. 

All that aside, I'd say Melati's character development was done amazingly. However, I do think that the arc was a little bit rushed in the end. I think it's important to create a narrative that is able to incite feelings from the readers, and the author did just that. I felt sad when she mentioned her family or her OCD (god knows how many times I cried), worried when she thought of her mother, or when she thought someone saw her counting, and I was rooting for her all the way. The thing that awed me most though, was Frankie's arc. I like that the backstory was also included so we can sort of understand where all the hate is coming from.

Even though they didn't really become friends afterwards, but I think  he's come along way, and that's such an important thing to include in the story, how it's not too late for people to see sense and stop hating each other.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Bullying, Fatphobia, Vomit, Rape, and Self harm

mellvynm's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Violence, and War

astarlia's review against another edition

Really appreciated the ocd rep in this, but couldn't manage the politics 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Themes are managed well

jenns_library's review

adventurous emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence