Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green

18 reviews

annabella's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

4.0

Feels hard to rate something so autobiographical. Related a lot to this one, and liked the subtle colour changes in the pages to keep track of time. Liked how pages were used in different ways eg with a few of just big blank space, made it feel quicker to read too. The art style isn’t my personal favourite but it communicated well what it wanted to I think !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

jaylulah26's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Eating disorder

pacifickat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.75

Powerful, dark, and at times hopeful. This book is a raw and accurate first person account of living with an eating disorder, a complex mental health issue few can really understand unless they've been there, too. 

The overbearing and inescapable shadow of black squiggles swirling above and around the main character provided an excellent visual for the seemingly unshakable and ever-present prison of unhealthy and obsessive thoughts that can tumble and cycle around in a person's mind. 

While this graphic novel looks dauntingly hefty, this actually helps the reader understand to some extent how long the struggle for recovery can take. I am amazed at the detail the author was able to remember and convey regarding the specific iterations of her struggles with her disorder over the years,

from annorexia, to exercise bulemia, to cycles of binging and restricting.

It's remarkable how well she recalls her own feelings and thought processes along the way, especially during her tween and teen years. 

This is a book full of triggers and is worthy of a giant warning label for anyone trying to avoid topics such as

descriptions of specific eating disorder behaviors, bullying, sexual assault, self harm, and suicidal ideation.

  It gives very honest and graphic first-person depictions. Proceed with caution and take breaks as necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content and Forced institutionalization

therapeutic malpractice, abuse of power

, thought control,

cult leader vibes

, mental disassociation, specific eating disorder behaviors, specific self harming behaviors,

actual grooming behaviors by a person with perceived power and control

,

complicit behavior by another who knows about a sexual predator and does nothing about it

, guilt, shame, and fear

chan_137's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

Honestly i would give it a 4.5⭐

So it is a book that i needed. As it was relatable it was a little bit hard for me to get on with it. It was an honest and brave attempt in showing and depicting the struggles of a person suffering ED and how the recovery as challenging. Much recommended.

Thank you author for this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

Minor: Fatphobia

catcherinthepi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

brookey8888's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

3.25

This is such a hard book for me to review. 
I always rate graphic novels lower than if it where a novel usually because I just don’t connect to the story as well. 
That being said I think this is a very important and heartbreaking, but inspiring story. I think you need to be in a good headspace for this and sadly I was not because this is insanely triggering( at least for me). Trigger warnings for eating disorders, sexual abuse, and suicidal thoughts( there’s more but I feel like those late the main ones. I would recommend this to see someone’s first hand experience with these topics, but I would only recommend it if you can handle the topics and if your in a good headspace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

fazington's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, and Suicide attempt

fictionfiend74's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Body shaming

annamarie98's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Really beautiful read that gets into some very sensitive topics so well. I love the way she told this story and it’s easy to relate to

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Rape

daniellekat's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

4.25

Really powerful and emotional. I love graphic novel memoirs and this one did not disappoint. I found the end too quickly wrapped up and would have enjoyed reading more about how she found other coping mechanisms. I understand that this was a very personal journey about the author accepting themselves and their body, but I would have loved to read more about her relationships with friends and family, especially her sister. The general pace of the book was also a little slow and sometimes I found it hard to gage how old she was. I would highly recommend looking at the TW in advance to reading this. 
Also, I applaud the author/publisher for including resources for readers struggling with similar situations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide attempt and Vomit