Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

19 reviews

jedisuckerpunch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

 3 stars even though i liked the book. i think I'm over this dark phase of ottessa moshfegh. everything I've read so far has characters that reveal their truest, darkest side, and it's too real sometimes. doesn't do well for my mental health.

she's a spectacular write, brilliant, to be able to capture characters like that. i read an interview where she said she was glad to be done writing mcglue, it was a dark time for her as well. and it truly is.

the book is about a drunk sailor who wakes up only to be found accused for the murder of one his closest friends. he does or does not recall murdering him. and the whole book is written from his perspective, him being drunk, sobering, failing, an it feels like a fever dream. no, it actually feels like trying to go through a foggy mind, while drunk - throughout the whole book. its amazes me how she can capture that feeling and make the reader feel nauseous and drunk while reading it. truly brilliant writer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

kutreen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.25

I picked this up because I have been hearing a lot about this author but thought that reading My Year of Rest and Relaxation would sink me deeper into depression. 

Damn! I'm really impressed by Moshfegh. She reeled me into the drunken stupor/brain damaged/denial-stage-of-grief cloudiness of McGlue's mind without getting too abstract or confusing. McGlue is in and out of consciousness as memories from his time spent with the man he allegedly killed (but had a quite vulnerable brother-like bond--which you can guess what that means when it's between two sailors in the 1850s) intermix with memories from his poor and emotionally neglected childhood, intermix with him currently trying to process his situation as he awaits trial while withdrawing from alcoholism and having a huge untreated gash in his head. We can empathize with McGlue's pain much more than he could allow himself to at that time. 

The most unpalatable parts for me were the ways McGlue referred to gay men, women, and black people, but I suppose it's true to how a man like that at that time would have referred to them.

Looking back not sure I could get through this if I was more emotionally vulnerable right now, but luckily it was a quick read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Homophobia, Biphobia, Confinement, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual content, Murder, Child death, and Sexual harassment

lilrainbow's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-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

3.5

Otessa Moshfegh is so willing to make nasty interesting characters and it’s so readable. Incredible respect 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Racism, and Homophobia

alexandrabelze's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

look, i love otessa moshfegh’s writing style, but i can’t looks past the recurrent use of slurs throughout the book. it would be different if they only appeared every once in a while, but there were times when there were 3+ slurs on a single page. and i didn’t fuck with that. i understand what she was trying to pull off with the narrator, but it was too extreme. i love a good unlikeable or unreliable narrator—if done right. mcglue was not done right. it could’ve been done right if it had been written as “gay pirates with internalized homophobia learn to love each other and themselves.” sadly, i would instead describe this as “the narrator drops the f slur and racist comments every ten sentences while pining for another man.” disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Cursing, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Child death, Rape, Murder, and Slavery

anpaul98's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Alcoholism, Excrement, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

Moderate: Murder

trashkatchewan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.0

This was a great read, much better than Eileen and really gripping in its rhythm. I crashed through it in an evening and I'm glad I just pushed through, not a story I want to dwell on because it was just heartbreaking and then obviously the amount of slurs was just egregious , but it was absolutely of quality in terms of writing style, conveyance of the character's issues, and tone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

sel_reads's review against another edition

1.5

I had to force myself to finish this and it's only 145 pages. There is something to be argued regarding whether it is appropriate to use the slurs written in this book given the identity of the author. Specifically the N-word used on the second to last page. It was already awful to read the words bl*ckie to describe Black background figures, the N-word was overkill and inappropriate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia and Physical abuse

Use of the N-word on page 144.

jp_riemersma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Vomit, Blood, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

nialiversuch'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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia