Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Castle School (for Troubled Girls)

I didn’t find that this book had any sort of mystery in it. There was grief and lots of emotions but the book was absolutely not a mystery. It was a decent book, but not what I like to read.

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garrisonabbey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.5

ahhhh, i loved this so much! each character was so intricate in such a beautiful way. one of my favorites was definitely virginia, i think she is a really great friend to all of the girls.

overall, this is a great story about grief, friendship, loss, and complicated things. i loved it so much and i’m glad i gave it a chance.

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alisazhup's review

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challenging 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

“‘What?’ I forget to keep my voice down. ‘Are you crazy?’
Eleanor grins. ‘Of course. Aren’t you? Aren’t we all?’”

I knew I had to read this after how much I enjoyed Sheinmel’s other book, A Danger to Herself and Others, and because of the way the synopsis promised to bring together my two favorite themes: boarding schools and mental health.

The characters’ issues are diverse- anorexia, kleptomania, selective mutism- and I was excited to see that the author devoted one chapter to each of the backstories. I was disappointed that some of the characters seem stereotyped, especially the characters with ADHD and OCD (ADHD goes deeper than being unable to concentrate and OCD is more than wanting to be organized). However, these stereotypes didn’t show up enough to take away from my experience. Plus, some of the characters seem very realistic in contrast (Eleanor is well done).

I was interested in the chapters where we got to see Moira (the protagonist) have therapy with Dr. Prince. I read a lot of books centered around mental health and most of them skip over when the character goes to therapy. Sheinmel most likely researched how a therapist would work through grief with a person. There are certain phrases/teachings I’ll remember from Dr. Prince (“move forward, not on”) (“this is what it is”).

I remember loving A Danger to Herself and Others because it showed the truth about how not everyone with mental health issues gets a happy ending. The Castle School showed that sometimes people with mental illnesses do recover. We need to see both things in literature.

Themes:
✅Boarding schools
✅Mental health
✅Therapy
✅Grief

Similar Books:
✅The Year After You by Nina de Pass
✅A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel
✅It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was wholly unexpected. I thought I was going to get a dark psychological thriller, but ended up getting a messy, poignant analysis of grief.
This book was beautifully executed with smart pacing. I was compelled to read it in one sitting.
It dealt with a lot of heavy issues through the perspective of a teen really working through huge emotions and circumstances. I liked that therapy was woven into the story and thought the therapy sparked some interesting discussions and points.
I look forward to reading this author’s previous works.

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cravebooks's review

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

PLEASE LOOK UP TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. i will add all of the possible trigger warnings to my review bc there are quite a lot.

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goldengirlbookclub's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

I don’t even recall what drove me exactly to request this book—maybe it was the idea of a boarding school or maybe that Moira was dealing with the grief of losing her best friend—but whatever it was, I am so glad this book found its way to me.

CW:
MC-nonpracticing Jewish rep, grief,
Supporting-portrayal of cutting/self harm, depression, hair pulling, adhd, anger, selective mutism, ED, etc

This book was such a great, realistic look at mental illness and grief and in a way that didn’t glorify or abhor them but just presented it as it is.

I went in thinking from the description that there would be some sort of fantasy or escapism mystery but instead the author showed us in real time that it’s exactly that kind of thinking that allows us to avoid dealing with our pain and ourselves. While the MC Moira is showing us how she is adjusting to life in the castle school, we also see glimpses into the other 11 girl’s’ viewpoints and how they ended up at the school as well. And through the escape to the other school we see Moira and the others begin to face their own inner turmoil with the help of eachother and Dr. Prince.

Moira’s experience with loss and grief resonated so powerfully for myself, not only because it was so raw and real and true but because it is so similar to that of my own story and the loss of my brother. This is a book that I think will provide catharsis for readers who have lost someone who died too young and didn’t know how to deal with that loss. This book will speak to those who have dealt with mental illness and been told they were too much to deal with, too broken, for their families or therapists to deal with anymore. It’s a book that says it’s okay to show those parts of yourself, to grieve, to be vulnerable, and that everyone is going through things that may or may not be visible to others. It’s about the messiness of loving and dying, of living with mental illness, of resentment and forgiveness and second chances and seeking help.

It’s one of those books that will stay with me for my life and that I hope to recommend to others struggling with these things in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Source Books Fire for this arc.

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review

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challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

Sheinmel nailing on the head with mental health, once again. Stay tuned for a full review next week!

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