Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

14 reviews

rose34's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Racism and Ableism

taylors_literature's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

unknownesmerelda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

daringreader13's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Blood, and Alcohol

ammr8973's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Addiction

wastingtime1994's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is, unsurprisingly, a difficult book to read. But more surprisingly, it’s a difficult book to finish. 
The “big twist” is hyped up far too much in the beginning - to the point where I nearly forgot there was a plot to begin with. When it’s revealed halfway through, the entire book loses steam. I dragged myself to the end, and while I’m happy I did, it looked bleak for a moment. 
The timeline can also be confusing, as it jumps between different years with little explanation or warning. 

However, overall I would recommend it. It’s very reflective regarding  the resilience of teenagers, the impacts of PTSD, the importance (or not?) of the truth, and the reality of religion in America. 3.5/5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Religious bigotry and Suicide

goodnightngo's review against another edition

3.0

This book is very engaging and took me out of my reading slump. Definitely dark but the author approached the heavy topics in a thoughtful way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Bullying, and Grief

legalplanner's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

In a world of lockdown drills, post columbine, and more school shootings in recent years this is an important take on the narrative of survivors. 

We meet Lee and the “six” on the third anniversary of the school shooting, when the youngest members are heading closer toward graduation. We follow Lee and her struggles to reconcile what happened that day and how the current narrative has been harmful. 

Trigger warnings for this novel:

Gun violence, death, school shootings, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, PTSD, and mild trauma. 

I went into this knowing that it would be a heavy read and it was every bit of heavy that I anticipated. In my small town in Indiana a school shooting happened and watching those survivors grapple with the same things Lee was sometimes got hard because I understood how her mother was feeling when trying to understand Lee. 

The diversity in the characters both on a sexuality spectrum, “disability”, and class structure was amazing and very much amplified that schools are diverse areas students spend most of their time in and that not every victim is the same. 

The writing style as a letter to be published to tell their side of the story was brilliant and the individual characters stories allowed you to see deeper into their personalities without having to switch points of view which I feel would have been hard in this novel. 

The way guilt both as a survivor and as a bystander was very well done. You understand why Lee, Eden, Denny, and Miles all have guilt regarding the narratives of that day. While none of them are necessarily as heavy as Lee’s there’s is equally as important.

I urge you as a reader (if you’re looking for reviews to encourage you) don’t take my 5 star review as overhype. This was well done. Focusing on survivors, guilt, and how the issues surrounding mass shootings/school shootings are important but many. I also implore you to read this as there is zero shooter glorification which I think is important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Murder, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Bullying

bobisthecoolest's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Being from Europa, I have no idea what these characters went through and wether this book and the character’s stories are accurate, so I will just be speaking from a reader’s perspective. The story was interesting, the diversity was great, but half of the characters were just unlikeable; Lee shouldn’t have pushed people as much and Ashley was just a straight up bitch imo. 

I did love the ace rep in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Gun violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Addiction

casber's review against another edition

emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gun violence, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse