Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Eleanor Oliphant sta benissimo by Gail Honeyman

473 reviews

philialex's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness

larasfavbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Wow. WOW. Mind absolutely blown. I had this on my tbr list for I think more than two years and cannot believe it took me so long to get started. The themes of the book are quite dark (mental health, abuse, childhood neglect, violence, loneliness,…), maybe that’s what held me back, but wow, it was so well done, so lighthearted and funny at times. It made me laugh and shed a tear and as someone whose mother tongue isn’t English I also have quite an impressive list of new vocabulary now. Such well written characters and an amazing story (I wanted to Google and research Eleanor’s case at several points during the book only to remind myself that it’s fiction). Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

bookyanna's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I struggled to get into this book intially; I found Eleanor to be a challenging and judgmental narrator. That said, as I approached the halfway mark it was clear I was supposed to be uncomfortable, and that Eleanor herself was uncomfortable in all aspects of her life. The style of narration evolved as the book progressed - as Eleanor stopped seeing herself as an island and learned to rely on the people around her. Ultimatetly, it was an uplifting read, reminding the reader that friends can be found in unlikely places and that it's never too late to make changes for the better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

yearlyreadings's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

alexsian29's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape

vanessagrausam's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death

lykkerol's review against another edition

i just couldn’t get into the story and eleanor was too unbearable and i wasn’t so interested in the storyline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

anjh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i found this book really hard to get into at first but especially in the second half the pace really picked up and i found myself a lot more absorbed in it. 
it genuinely is a good book, eleanor is funny and there is a good balance of humour and tenseness/sadness of the book and the story is written well to reflect a character with severe trauma and how she processes this as the story goes along.

and omg the plot twist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

meganrina's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief

wadee23's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Death of parent