Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

55 reviews

ayik's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

ashaberstroh's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

jcubins's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion

dumbcumpster's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book reminded me a lot of my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh. it was a quick read, but a tough one; I genuinely sobbed throughout a lot of this book, but it also made me laugh. the narrator's internal monologue reminds me a lot of my own, and it was both eerie and comforting to see it reflected elsewhere. I tore through this book in just over a day. 

it was almost ergodic in how the author uses black holes and black pages and "e.g.:" and definitions throughout to mirror the content of the book. the black hole metaphor was a little heavy-handed for my taste, but the pomegranate metaphor really struck me. it's very heavy on internal monologue, childhood memories, and the narrator's internal thoughts feelings etc. 

I've seen multiple reviews mention how Cassie, the main character, sucks or is a bad person or whatever, which I think is strange. I think the whole point is to draw attention to how capitalism ruins people's lives and turns them into something they never wanted to be, out of sheer economic necessity. Cassie is vain, competitive, cowardly, irresponsible, pathetic, an addict, lacks self control, the whole shebang, but so are we all. Cassie being directly impacted by being mistreated at her job, abused by her mother, half-heartedly committed to by her kind-of boyfriend, extorted by her landlord, put at risk by the virus, etc, all makes her want to shrivel up and hide and die. I think that's all of us. Cassie is all of us. that's what makes her so uncomfortable to understand and to see her inner machinations laid bare.

I think you'll either get this book or you won't, and you'll know pretty quickly which camp you fall into. if you have any experience with depression or poverty, you'll probably get it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicide, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Vomit

valeriedittrich's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.25

if you’re already feeling down about your corporate job and are actively in a depressive episode i’d skip this, honestly. but it’s a raw look into the dog-eat-dog world of silicon valley and the pressures of corporate life and how it can just exacerbate whatever you’re going through. characters aren’t super likeable but it’s kind of the point. feels very realistic to a scary degree 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Drug abuse

kyullua's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

the main character is the definition of someone who just discovered late stage capitalism sucks

i adored the ending, how it can have a positive or negative twist depending on the outlook

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Mental illness

theliterarylair's review

dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This was such a beautiful  reading experience with a perfect, heartbreaking ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Misogyny

wild_rose_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Sexism, and Classism

Minor: Infertility and Sexual content

tytrack99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

I loved the way this book was set up with definitions and parts of her lives used to explain the words defined. I loved the separation of parts with black hole facts. I loved the small science sprinkled in here and there. I did not love the plot. I enjoyed the story, but it too until the last 50-100 pages for anything to truly happen. It took me way too long to finish this book bc of that. Overall, I did enjoy it tho.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug use, Child abuse, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

errie's review against another edition

dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Abortion, Medical content, and Police brutality

Moderate: Classism, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic