Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

41 reviews

lydderbox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Animal death

lovelyoutliers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book! Such a creative book following diverse stories linked by an ancient story in the most interesting way - a young girl in Constantinople in 1411 and the boy who was part of the army camped outside of the walls, an old man staging a play with children at the local library and a young man with a plan to make the developers responsible for local habitat destruction pay, a young girl in a pod hurdling away from the doomed planet with the mission of finding a new habitable one. The twists and turns of the story are beautiful and surprising, written with such skill - profound, sweet, thoughtful, heartwrending. An immediate classic and at its core, a love letter to libraries, books, and librarians, about the ways that stories make us. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Homophobia, Grief, Murder, and Mental illness

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy shit. This is the best book I've... ever? read. I ugly cried at the end. So beautiful, so heartwrenching, so powerful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Torture, Mental illness, War, Ableism, Animal death, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Death, and Racial slurs

jessi_c's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

A worthwhile Everest of a book. Every bit of the climb is as challenging as people say, but the triumph at the end was worth the journey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Blood

Minor: Child death and Mental illness

lesliej_pdx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful informative 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Confinement, Violence, War, Gun violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Homophobia

miller8d's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.5

Changed my relationship to books and reading. One of the best books I have ever read. I highlighted so many passages that the Kindle highlight collection was literally 26 pages long.

Cried several times both out of happiness and sadness. Beautifully captures the actual sensations of love and loss and grief, and the gorgeous nature of children and animals and family, queer love and neurodivergent pain, and so much more. Refreshing poetry and ridiculously beautiful world-building in such intricate historical contexts. Addressed so many different issues and experiences with such flair and emotion. Delivers anarchist / anti-establishment / leftist values from the optimistic perspective that to be human is to be a part of the problem, and yet, we must love one another and love the Earth in order to power through the pain of life in order to radically experience the love, because that’s why we are here.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexism, Abandonment, War, Slavery, Gun violence, Colonisation, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Racial slurs, Bullying, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

I am very sensitive and I LOVED this book and found it deeply emotionally uplifting despite these very severe content warnings

clairew97's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Bullying, Medical content, Pregnancy, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Blood, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

thebowandthebook's review

emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

Really enjoyed the novel, left me well satisfied at the end. Loved how he connected ever aspect of the stories and finished them neatly.

gay relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

lauramcc7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Suicide

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

 Really, truly, spectacular. This is such a beautiful interwoven story spun across multiple lifetimes. It was delightful to see how each life connected with the other. Each character feels tangible and real, they all have so much depth and personality. Each plot-line is gripping and it is impossible to not feel for the characters. Seymour especially, I think, is beautifully written. His mental illness is incredibly accurately done, and he is never once demonized for it. Each character, despite their actions, kind or otherwise, is written and treated with respect and empathy. It's such a beautiful tale of humanity and kindness and struggle, and all of it is portrayed with such well researched nuance and intelligence. Definitely one of the best books if you want to feel something that is neither fully happy nor sad, but a cathartic combination of both. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Violence, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Death of parent, War, Gun violence, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Classism, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Slavery, Alcohol, Dementia, Drug use, and Excrement