Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

8 reviews

sophiemartin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

chqrmspoken's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse

milesjmoran's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

jessthanthree's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Confinement, Classism, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Infidelity

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Animal cruelty

aimee's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Murder and Mental illness

jowmy4's review against another edition

emotional mysterious relaxing slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Other content worth warning about: bigamy. Regarding the portrayal of mental illness, people with a fairly academic interest about historical and cultural perspectives of "madness" will probably find this book quite interesting, but I suspect that people who are personally affected may find it incredibly upsetting because

one of the characters has "latent insanity", and is essentially the villain of the story. Note also the 'forced institutionalisation' warning.

I also considered warning for homophobia or biphobia because

the main character is almost certainly in love with his (male) friend, and later falls in love with that friend's sister, who looks just like him. So both the main character and the book itself seem to carry some internalised homophobia or biphobia.

The main character, though likable (in my opinion - your mileage may vary), holds some views which are somewhat uncomfortable to modern audiences, especially about women. The author tries to give some sort of an explanation for his opinions about women, but it's a weak excuse at best and not really logically consistent with the timeline of when he has those thoughts. If you going to read this novel, I would say that you have to be prepared to be "preached to". I think that's a warning that can probably apply to most literature of the era (I think all that I have read lately have had at least one moment where the authorial voice gets a bit "preachy" about religious or moral matters, and that's to say nothing of the characters) but the moral preaching does seem particularly strong here.

angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

One of my favourite parts of this novel is that throughout the entire time that I was reading this I thought that I knew exactly what the twist was and I thought it was so obvious but it turned out to be a classic case of misdirection which I definitely enjoyed. Yes, I did guess one of the twists but my focus on that one aspect meant that I missed out on something else entirely and got a shocking surprise which I wanted but didn’t expect. The characterisation is another strong aspect of the novel. With Lady Audley, we get a beautifully written, morally ambiguous femme fatale and with Robert Audley, we have a lawyer turned the amusing amateur detective with more book smarts than common sense. Individually they are well-crafted characters but their dynamic and interactions make for an interesting read.

While the main characters are well written, they aren’t characters that are easy to empathise with which makes the reader more of a distant observer rather than immersed one. If you’re also the kind of reader that likes books with likeable characters then I wouldn’t suggest this one as I found the main characters Lady Audley and Robert Audley to be quite irritating at times. The novel has quite a slow pace even though it contains those elements of crime fiction, sensationalism and the Gothic. Some of this is due to the many descriptive passages, some of which did very little to advance the plot, that are present throughout. Also, the ending of the novel is tied up too neatly which I wasn’t expecting and didn’t massively enjoy given all of the twists and turns that occur throughout the novel.

For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/ 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, and Infidelity

srm's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

What a delight! I loved this even more on the second reading! Robert Audley is absolutely hilarious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence