Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

16 reviews

jficele's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is stuck in my head, replaying scenes over and over trying to find meanings to them.  The symbolism and character development also has kept me thinking.  Exactly what I look for in a book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Classism and Panic attacks/disorders

suchsweetsorrow89's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

the more i think about this book, the more fond of it i am becoming. this tale, one that is part ambiguous, part philosophical, part fantasy, but ultimately entrenched within the evils and dangers that exist in our present reality come together to make a story that keeps to interested, makes you laugh at some points, but leaves you thinking of so much. while it was a bit slow for me in the beginning to imagine where we were, i think that was partly the point. this text is jarringly modern, breaks the typical ideas of what horror can and should look like in a literary space, and makes itself a quick favorite for me in my informal "summer of horror" journey. it's honestly shocking that this book is not more spoken about than it is, and i highly recommend it for anyone, yes, but especially those fond of unreliable narrators, The Stranger by Camus, The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, and skeptics of those who preach that the world we live in and the problems we face is "the best of all possible worlds" (thinking of Voltaire v Leibniz here). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

fadeddpages's review

dark mysterious tense

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Misogyny

henriediosa's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I love Merricat's style of narration and how the two sisters look out for each other. If you're looking for a non-romantic version of a fucked up love story, this is it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, and Bullying

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Emotional abuse and Child abuse

There is an unreliable narrator who engages in a lot of magical thinking and has her own sense of morality. She's prone to daydreaming and wishing death upon people.

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Another book read because it was a favorite of Suzanne Collins', I did not know what to expect going into this and I really enjoyed it. A deeply layered text with so much complexity, its ambiguity is also its brilliance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, and Child abuse

leanne_miron's review against another edition

dark slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Murder, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

surelyinthefountain's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is great -- a classic for a reason. It's got this strange, eerie, sort of claustrophobic feeling to the prose and the setting. You really get plunged deep into a skewed, myopic, deeply agoraphobic and mistrusting and paranoid point of view. Very dream-like and always a bit disconcerting. To be honest, starting to read this in 2021, I found that atmosphere was conjured so well that it was a little triggering and took time to finish. It's definitely possible to be in the wrong head space for this book, even though it's really good, and that's worth keeping in mind.
The mystery is kind of a non-mystery: it's sort of obvious pretty quickly who's behind certain events, if you're paying attention. But I dunno, that's not really the point. It's really good when read as a creepy character piece.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Panic attacks/disorders

louisegraveyard's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Murder

emory's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Misogyny