Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

25 reviews

common_nonsense's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Death, and Hate crime

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Sexual harassment

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Infidelity, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

laurahastoomanywips's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

4.0

A very thought provoking and sometimes emotional read. Told across two voices: The main one being Afaf, a headteacher at a Muslim girls school. The other the man who one day walks into her school and shoots dead 14 of her pupils and their class teacher.
It is told via flashback telling what the build up was to him deciding to attack the school and Afaf's life from childhood building up to that day. She is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, telling the difficulties she experienced being a from an immigrant family, her father's drinking and his conversion to Islam, her mother's mental breakdown after her older sister ran away from home and Afaf's own conversion to Islam, becoming a teacher, meeting her husband and dealing with the fallout from the 9/11 attacks.
Showcases the mental health issues and gun laws that allow things like this to happen and also how the "echochambers" on the Internet have a part to play in fueling the hatred of the "others" often given as an excuse for these acts.
Definitely a "current" issue given the attacks in Buffalo and Texas that occurred this month.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Racism

jades1520's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

backpackingbookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.5

My immediate expectation when I saw the blurb for this book was that it was going to be a tense, fast-paced read set in a single location over a short period of time during a tragic school shooting. But, although the shooting is a key part of the novel, it by no means defines it. That was what I ultimately loved about The Beauty of Your Face.

At its core, this book celebrates women. It celebrates standing up for your beliefs and being brave enough to follow your heart despite ignorance and judgement from wider society. It celebrates strength, courage, and community. It is a raw and tender portrayal of a family broken apart by loss with unsuccessful attempts to reunite through religion. It spans decades, starting at the scene of the shooting, then flashing back to 1976 when Afaf is 10 years old and an unexpected event ripped through her family. We then flash forward, catching glimpses of Afaf's transition to adulthood, her commitment to her faith, her career choices and family life. The targeted school shooting intersperses with these chapters, reminding us we're leading up to this callous attack, all because the school is Muslim.

It's simple - I loved this book; loved the complex characters and their individual struggles, loved the diversity of a Palestinian family trying to find their place in Chicago, loved the underlying storylines that resolved towards the end of the novel, and loved the saga that unfolded between decades. It was insightful, thought-provoking, and all too real- it felt like I was reading a true account of Afaf's life. I hated the islamophobia, the bigotry in school, the judgement for choosing to wear a hijab - but these are all things Muslim women faced then and now. It might be fiction, but it's certainly not invented.

I can't emphasise how powerful this novel is - I'd encourage everyone to read it.

Rating breakdown

• Plot/narrative - 4.5
• Writing style/readability - 4.2
• Characters - 4.5
• Diverse themes - 4.7
• Ending - 4.3

Overall - 4.4 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism

belle2008's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Violence

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

This book was so heartbreaking in so many ways but such an incredible and important read. It explores finding Islam, experiences of Islamophobia, a hate crime, so much loss and grief. 
The only reason I felt like I really couldn't give it 5 stars was that the writing was a tad repetitive at times, and it would pull me out of the story. BUT I would argue that the story itself is 5 stars. 

We really need more people to read stories like this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship

bookreviewswithkb's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.5

[ 4.5/5 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌷 ] this book should have been longer. it’s a masterpiece but i wanted more

this is a book about what happens to us when we hold in our pain, when we refuse to let out the things that have hurt us. maybe it’s in the name of protecting others or of protecting ourselves. but in the end, it creates more pain. so many of us have only been taught it’s not okay to feel emotions, it’s not okay to have struggles with mental health, that it’s not okay to talk about the things that are bothering us, but look where that’s left us. i don’t have to name the many atrocities in our society occurring every single day; how many of them stem from our inability to be honest, to see the humanity in each other, to feel our feelings and express them in healthy ways, to heal from our past? 

maybe if Afaf’s mother received the care she needed for her depression, she wouldn’t have inflicted her pain onto those she loved most in the world. maybe if the shooter was able to talk about the wounds from his childhood, he wouldn’t have felt the need to unleash his anger on innocent Muslim students. maybe if Afaf could express what was happening to her at home, she wouldn’t have tried to seek comfort in white boys who saw her as a prize. 

what do we have to lose by turning towards our emotions?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Alcoholism, and Islamophobia

Minor: Child abuse

saadiasreads's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Xenophobia

Minor: Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

hannahrhian's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit