Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

23 reviews

fiaharringbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book was a life-changer for me. It was like Get Out but make it Indigenous Canadian, meets Everything Everywhere All at Once or Interstellar. The scope of imagination, creativity and originality in the way this story was told was gob-smacking. My favourite book of the year so far, absolutely bloody exquisite, I cannot recommend enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Body horror, Classism, Drug abuse, Genocide, Addiction, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gore, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Racism, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Grief, Mental illness, and Gore

baileyanabella's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

... just wow. I am going to be thinking about this book for a long, long time. My first completed title from the 2024 Women's prize longlist, and if the rest of them hold a candle to this one then we are in for a real treat.
Slight spoiler alert in the content warnings - but if you are sensitive to dark themes I recommend looking over them, there is a lot in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Addiction, Body horror, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Drug use, Child death, and Chronic illness

rebsvstheworld's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Cultural appropriation

mgudaval's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Drug abuse

jessicakornelsen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Colonisation, Classism, Racial slurs, Genocide, and Body horror

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

That ending!! I was not so sure of this book at the beginning, I almost dnf’d like 35% of the way through, but I am so glad I kept going. The pace was a bit slow, but ultimately that made the way the ending unfurled so rewarding. Such beautiful themes at play here, highlighting the interconnectedness of Native women and their stories and their generations of striving toward hope. It definitely got kind of bonkers there at the end, which made for some delicious horror moments and also very poignant pieces about postpartum depression and psychosis and how that experience intersects with (and is further compounded and criminalized by) colonization and racism. This is such a well constructed book, would definitely recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Genocide, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

tropic_anaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

pomoevareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

And Then She Fell by Mohawk author Alicia Elliott is both simple and complex in its structure. It begins with a Mohawk woman (Alice) marrying a white man who studies indigenous culture, moves off the rez to a posh Toronto neighbourhood and has a baby. Alice struggles to connect to her daughter and descends into a psychosis where she believes others are out to take her daughter away from her. Then the story changes to one that takes place inside the time space web where each string is a different path and has a different outcome. The story becomes more difficult here as the characters mingle within the multiverse. Alice is guided to complete writing the Haudenosaunee Creation story which will affect future generations. Although future is also now, complex as you might see. 

For personal reasons, this book took me almost a week to finish reading and likely because of this I dropped parts of the thread now and then. Elliott writes in her acknowledgements that she has her own personal story of being disconnected. I felt the urge of the character of Alice within the prose as she battled against herself. 

I enjoyed reading the author’s matrilineal characters’ stories and how each woman was supported by the others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, and Alcohol

drownedinfictionx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

L

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Alcohol, Medical content, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Gore, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts