Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

3 reviews

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

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

leoniepeonie's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.5

A wonderful book. I loved Tom and Ming's story, and found it achingly real and beautiful, dealing so well with anxiety and vulnerability and complicated emotions. I struggled a bit with the audiobook and am not sure I'd recommend reading it in that form - I found the way the actor playing Ming ended every third sentence or so as though it was a question very distracting, and the mispronunciation of multiple words and bits of Malaysian speech made things feel less believable. I'm glad I carried on though, because the story was a really special one, and brought me to tears at times. I'd without a doubt read other works by Nicola Dinan.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Infidelity and Self harm