Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

20 reviews

ccerpa's review against another edition

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

3.75

what an incredibly triggering experience to end 2024 on!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

san_dra's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Outing, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kers_tin's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Racism, Transphobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

oz2021's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-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: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Infidelity

yleavy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.25

Some sweet moments, and I can see why people like this book. The characters all have moments of charm in that “uni student who thinks they are quirky” sort of way. The dialogue felt like it was coming from an afterschool special, with the characters using therapy words or helping each other reach a profound revelation in every conversation. Without the tense changes, the characters’ POVs would be difficult to tell apart, and the analogies were often more distracting than fitting. Examples include “our tongues shook hands” and “my heart grows thicker”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Vomit, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

imlfox's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming

e11en's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Drug use, Mental illness, Transphobia, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Eating disorder, Car accident, and Death of parent

junglejelly's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I wish I hadn't read Bellies so fast but I couldn't put it down. Everything about it is just phenomenal. Easily one of my favourite books that I have read in a long time.

While incredibly sad and hard to read at times, the writing is so captivating and the characters you come to care for so easily.

A book that will be hard to forget but easy to love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Medical content

anaheeta's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

This felt like reading a memoir, I mean that in the sense that all characters and events and feelings were so fleshed out that it felt like I was reading about the people through their own minds. It was emotional and heartbreaking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Infidelity, Dementia, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

keraashley's review

4.25

I think if this book was 60 pages shorter, it would have been a 5 star for me. 
It is so overly descriptive, like every movement a person takes and what the chair they're sitting in looks like. 
But the relationship between Ming and Tom is so good, and the growing pains and changes that everyone in this friend group goes through as Ming transitions was very well done. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Grief, and Car accident