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dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was initially trying to get all my posts for the books I read in 2024 up before the end of the year, but I needed a few days to sit with this because of how deeply it affected me. It is, at least in my experience, one of the best pieces of media to illustrate what it is like to go through a major depressive period. It is raw, and it is difficult, and it breaks my heart that so many people will be able to relate to it.
There are so many insights in this fictional(?) journal about what it feels like, the hopelessness, the fixation, the despair. It would be nearly impossible for someone who hadn't experienced it themselves to write this. I'm thankfully in one of the best places I've been mentally in a long time, otherwise I don't know whether I would have been able to read this.
If you are struggling with depression and anxiety, I would say take caution before reading. Think about whether you are in the right place to read something that will likely resonate deeply with you. And if you do start to read this, commit to finishing it. It gets dark, and heavy, and bleak. But like living with depression, light re-enters slowly. I do think there's a lot that can be gained by reading this, but know that it is going to bring up some difficult emotions and thoughts. Content warnings for depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal ideation and attempts.
If you care about someone who lives with severe depression and anxiety, and you want to understand what they are going through better, I would suggest you read this. Not to find "answers" or to try to "help" them, but to empathize, to understand the ups and downs they go through from one day to the next. How when they are really in it, the lows are unthinkably low, and the highs are not much above the lows.
This is a book that I wish didn't have to exist, but it does, and I think it's a very important and necessary book.
There are so many insights in this fictional(?) journal about what it feels like, the hopelessness, the fixation, the despair. It would be nearly impossible for someone who hadn't experienced it themselves to write this. I'm thankfully in one of the best places I've been mentally in a long time, otherwise I don't know whether I would have been able to read this.
If you are struggling with depression and anxiety, I would say take caution before reading. Think about whether you are in the right place to read something that will likely resonate deeply with you. And if you do start to read this, commit to finishing it. It gets dark, and heavy, and bleak. But like living with depression, light re-enters slowly. I do think there's a lot that can be gained by reading this, but know that it is going to bring up some difficult emotions and thoughts. Content warnings for depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal ideation and attempts.
If you care about someone who lives with severe depression and anxiety, and you want to understand what they are going through better, I would suggest you read this. Not to find "answers" or to try to "help" them, but to empathize, to understand the ups and downs they go through from one day to the next. How when they are really in it, the lows are unthinkably low, and the highs are not much above the lows.
This is a book that I wish didn't have to exist, but it does, and I think it's a very important and necessary book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Warning: this book contains false information,without ever addressing or even hinting that it is false. Most notably it mentions that Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman (misspelled in the book as Able Janszoon Tasman) was cooked and eaten by New Zealand natives in 1642. I could not find any evidence of this cannibalism online and Tasman seems to have died in the late 1650s or early 1660s rather than in 1642.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt