Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon

10 reviews

endemictoearth's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This one is a tough read. I had to pause for a while in the middle, but managed to power through one sad patch to make it to many more tense and sad moments. 

There was a real 'wowie zowie' Paul Zindel-esque quality to this book set in the summer of 1973. I would be interested to hear what younger audiences thought about that aspect of the book. (Especially as I don't think many kids these days are reading Zindel.)

I did cry a couple times; it's really hard not to. Jonathan is in a real tough situation, and meeting Web, his love interest, only makes it tougher. Web is Native American and we get a lot about that, much of it being slurs from white townsfolk, which is hard to read, though no doubt how it was.

Definitely check out the content warnings for this book before reading it, to make sure you're in the right frame of mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Death of parent

the_true_monroe's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

4.25

This book was intense, sad (yet funny), and beautiful. I think despite how much was accomplished and complete/ resolved (and by complete/ resolved, I don’t mean ‘all is well and good’ but ‘okay, that answers that’) I felt there were many other characters I wanted to hear from again. I just feel like there were abrupt ‘tie-offs’ to a few side characters.  

I think the variety of reactions to Jonathan and Web’s stories allows most queer people to relate on some level but it is really interesting to view with the historical and cultural lenses which are more specific to the characters, location and time period. 

I have recently come to love queer historical fiction and books like this are why.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cultural appropriation

quinnyquinnquinn's review

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

wilms_rudi's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Police brutality

asmodeous's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Outing

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

hannahfaith25's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Medical trauma, and Outing

Explicit detail about conversion therapy

miserablemoons's review

5.0

I couldn't put this book down, the characters were written and opened my eyes to the things I need to see in myself and that I'm not a burden and j don't have to change. 
please r as the content warnings though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

andrealeeeigh's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

beatricelo's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Mental illness

ollieshark's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

at first i was unsure of how i'd feel about this novel because of how eccentric johnathan's voice is, but i'm so glad i stuck with it. i have a feeling this one will put me in a funk afterwards because it has so much heavy subject matter, but it's such an important read to understand how unaccepted gay men and native american peoples were even just in the 1970s.

the only thing i wish had been done differently or changed is that content warnings should probably be provided somewhere before chapter one starts. i had no idea what i was going into and i think my thoughts on the novel suffer a little as a result of being bombarded with johnathans's "treatments."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Hate crime

Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Police brutality, and Medical content

electroshock conversion therapy and its side effects are often mentioned, and a scene in which the main character endures an electroshock treatment is shown. lgbt+/gay slurs also show up on the page.