Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

57 reviews

queenie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing and Death of parent

elisammansur's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

tbh my rating is going more off the vibes i felt throughout the book rather than an objective review. i did enjoy it a lot, the way it’s written hooked me from the start and kept me engaged with the story through the seven hundred pages. i am not religious so, sometimes, the analogies, metaphors, and overall catholic imagery was hard to understand. overall, it’s a better book and more worthwhile than It (Stephen King), with better vibes and a better ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Suicide, and Gun violence

kconley15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Self harm, Death, Pedophilia, Gore, and Suicide

reclusivebookslug's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.25

I'm so conflicted about this one. This is so far removed from what I would normally read, but I love TPOBAW so I simply had to. The beginning was really the highlight for me. That was the height of the mystery and horror elements. The unknown possibilities were more interesting than how it was actually written. I'm glad I read it and maybe I'll even read it again sometime to give it another chance, but right now I have very mixed feelings.

On one hand, this book has an incredible ability to suck you in and keep you reading. Given the length of the book, I thought it might be more slow-paced or take its time on the exposition, but I was pleasantly surprised at how instantly gripping it was. It was very emotionally engaging and affected how I felt even when I was not actively reading it. At turns, it is scary, disturbing, sad, funny, and endearing. I was interested in the themes of generational trauma, cycles of abuse, and society's complicity in the evil of a few that allows suffering to spread.

On the other hand, I didn't enjoy the religious overtones of the latter part of the book and the reveal was something of a disappointment. It was grand in scale but not in emotional resonance for me. Sometimes plots of such cosmically huge proportions lose their impactfulness for me because they feel less personal. The very ending, in particular, I don't like.

The depictions of mental illness aren't the best. This is in line with part of a larger issue with the horror genre using mental illness as a plot device. There's also a very positive and uncritical depiction of a sheriff, which seems out of touch with the reality of the role of law enforcement.

Maybe it would have benefited from some subtlety. Metaphorical gods and devils are often interesting to me, but a war between the literal biblical God and the devil is sort of boring to me. Maybe if I believed in God or the afterlife this would have meant something to me, but as is it just doesn't and I almost feel it takes away from the theming that I do enjoy.

The subplot of Mary Katherine's virgin pregnancy is annoying. The book ending with the implication that the baby will grow up to be the next pawn in the nice man's plan to escape Hell is such a disappointment. Despite the huge scale of the conflict, the resolution doesn't seem to reach that level of importance. Sure they escaped disaster, but it is only a temporary solution to a problem with no end in sight. I didn't expect them to kill the devil and rid the world of all evil or anything, but they didn't do anything to stop or change the cycle, they just created a slightly happier ending to this one circuit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Torture, Kidnapping, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, and Child abuse

Mental health-related triggers are the biggest ones. They use a lot of common horror tropes like: not being able to trust your own thoughts; paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions being real; being constantly watched; the world ending; everyone but you and those close to you being crazy or out to get you; etc. which were upsetting to me, and I don't even have particular mental health reasons that make them triggering to me.

jasmine256's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Child death

buecher_und_huehner's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Murder, Addiction, Animal death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Blood, Bullying, Medical content, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Suicide, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Pedophilia

goodolmc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child death, Violence, Suicide, Self harm, Mental illness, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Murder, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Grief, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Torture, and Physical abuse

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

this book took a sci-fi/fantasy turn i wasn't expecting, but i enjoyed it. i wish i had known what to expect going into it, but regardless, this book was amazing. 
a slow burn that truly throws you wholly into the universe of christopher and kate. 
it was a mesmerizing and well thought out world, and i'm so happy to have been able to participate.
highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a lot of character development throughout all characters (main and side), a fully developed plot, and has the time to delve into this beast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Violence, Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, War, Slavery, and Suicide

abbyg007's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death, Car accident, Child abuse, Dementia, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

britttobegorey94's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy