Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

22 reviews

natalie12345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racism, Death of parent, Rape, and Addiction

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was a beautiful intersection of the daughters' stories and the idea of inherited trauma.  I loved it.  Not told linearly, it took some work to keep the daughters and the stories straight, but it was worth it.  It would be interesting to reread this book in timeline order.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Sexual content, Slavery, Abandonment, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, War, Bullying, Child death, Dementia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism

emmakchapman's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Racism, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Rape

torturedreadersdept's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Classism, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Moderate: War and Xenophobia

Minor: Self harm and Forced institutionalization

motherofunicorns's review against another edition

Really bleak with a lot of weird pseudoscience. I regret not bailing sooner.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was written well but I’m not sure how I feel about taking a real life person and writing a fictional story about her, especially when her story (real and fictional) is filled with so much trauma. I was only able to find one other review from a Chinese person, so I really wish there were more Chinese people who have read/reviewed this. 

Also, just in case there is anyone else out there who will have a similar experience to me, THEY ARE NOT SPEAKING CANTONESE IN THIS BOOK, IT’S TOISANESE 😭 I was losing my mind because I know Cantonese but was unfamiliar with Toisanese, but I’ve since learned it’s because they’re used interchangeably and prior to the 1960s Toisanese was the dominant language spoken in Chinatowns.

Another thing, this part of the blurb was the reason why I decided to read this book, “A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories,” but it was so misleading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexism, Slavery, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Grief, Forced institutionalization, War, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Abandonment, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Classism, Bullying, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Racial slurs, Self harm, and Colonisation

threadsof_kate's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Death, Homophobia, and Adult/minor relationship

ajroe22's review

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

Normally in books like this with multiple perspectives I develop a favorite or a few favorites but all of the stories were so interesting and I loved them all. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide

indreni's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Outing, Lesbophobia, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Grief

cassidy's review

dark reflective medium-paced

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

I was really intrigued by the premise of the book — but I think I was a little thrown off by the authors foreword when he talked about epigenetics as if it were evidence for determinism and fatalism — that is everything about us is predetermined  either genetically or epigenetically and there’s no way to change that except for a treatment that doesn’t even exist yet!! So both  practically and intellectually I have qualms with that. 

I found some of the plot lines a little unbelievable in how quickly things went from fine to awful (ie: Greta’s) and I found Louis and Louise absolutely despicable, almost caricature like - in every opportunity they said the unsupportive/racist thing, I’d hope that this is less main stream by 2048!

But despite all this I was interested enough to keep reading it so there’s that 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Mental illness, and Rape