Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

You by Caroline Kepnes

52 reviews

eyesofcrows's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I wanted to read a crazy protagonist and I got a crazy protagonist. I found myself rooting for Joe on several occasions even if it was insane to do so. He’s a funny guy and the problems he focuses on are equally funny. It’s a fun book filled with murder, stalking, and romance. It’s different from a lot of books I read but it does fulfill my love of an unreliable narrator because our narrator is just way too crazy. I like how the characters play out and how Joe always looks at what’s wrong with them. Of course there’s a million things wrong with Joe (he’s both pretentious and self satisfying) but man are the people in Beck’s life just as, if not more, messed up as her

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

Not for the faint hearted, this book is very twisted and dark and graphic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Stalking, Gore, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Excrement, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gaslighting, Classism, and Confinement

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Alcohol, and Drug use

Very graphic tale from the POV of a stalker obsessed with a girl after a brief encounter. I watched the series so I knew how this obsession takes over and leads to violence. There is nothing redeeming about the character Joe. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the book, more like disturbed by its nature

dahliaeulalie's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Blood and Eating disorder

shysbooks's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Book Joe is much creepier and more deranged than series Joe. Book Joe is intense, I had to read it in sections and take breaks. But it was worth it. At the end, I ended up disliking everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

urfriendash's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

CHILLING........

so i bought this because i loved the show, and everyone told me 'joe is so much darker in the book!' and i was like okay ill bite

i don't think joe is like super darker in this, but because we are limited to his inner dialogue in the show, we miss out on some of the crazy creepy stuff he thinks about. plus, the show made a lot of changes to the plot. like the paco plot doesn't exist in the books, and yk in the show ur like 'oh he a terrible guy but at least he's helping paco' well you cant say that in the book..

this book was actually scary, not cuz of some monster or vampire yk but because this could happen to anyone irl! plenty of people don't figure out their being stalked for years.. joes narrating was so crazy to me, like people actually think this shit. he's super perverted and he's great at gaslighting and manipulating!

anyway super good book, very disturbing, anddddd id say 13+. if your mature. there's a bunch of perverted stuff and sex scenes, as well as detailing of murder and stalking (obviously)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Stalking, Medical content, and Gaslighting

lots of perverted content

nickibreading's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Crazy book. I was really hooked from the onset, the ending was a bit slower/boring because I’ve already watched the TV show (I narrated the whole thing in penn bladgley’s voice). Will probably read the next one … joes narration is addicting 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Mental illness, and Suicide

greenan26's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Mental illness, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual content

kelseyr713's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

As you can see, this took me a long time to read. For whatever reason, I wasn’t compelled to find out what happened next, and it’s both tedious and upsetting to be in the protagonist’s head for too long. Can’t believe there are THREE more books in this series - how does he keep getting away with this??? Also feels dated in a few ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Alcohol and Car accident

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Infidelity, Torture, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Stalking, Car accident, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, Murder, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Violence

chuckielittle's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body shaming, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Mental illness, Infidelity, Self harm, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting