Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

22 reviews

bites_of_books's review against another edition

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

4.5

The story of Ruthie and Joe is so sad and so necessary. I loved the writing and the complex characters. It would be easy to be set against the kidnapping family, but even with those characters, there was complexity throughout the book. 
Ruthie's journey is hard to read, mostly because of the gaslighting that she endures. I think many things did happen to her and she didn't get to have much agency, but that felt like a big part of the point of the story in this case. 
Joe was a potentially unlikeable character who did grow for me and his story is truly heartbreaking. His emotional journey was difficult to connect to at times but there were certain moments that were so heartfelt and real for me that I couldn't help but want to just wrap him up in a blanket.
I'd love to read more of Peters' books! I simply loved her writing, at times I was so wrapped up in it that I did forget everything that was going on around me. That's a great book for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lahars_little_library's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia, Infertility, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Outing, and Alcohol

hellokriti's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

jesslinkletter's review

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I did enjoy this book and felt it was deeply emotional and thought provoking regarding grief and how we deal with it in different ways. I feel like there's not a lot spelled out in this book (for example, that the sixties scoop was very real and that several children were taken from indigenous families, that the police really would not care about a missing indigenous child unfortunately, and also that June and Alice were queer), and I feel like if you missed those points you may not have enjoyed it as much. 

I do wish that this story had taken one of two other routes - either having Ruthie return to her family earlier on and show her reconnecting to her Indigenous culture, or making where she was and if she would return more of a mystery instead of revealing everything in the first few chapters. 

But overall, Amanda Peters wrote incredibly complex characters and weaved them together through such a tragic, grief stricken story. It explores family bonds as a primary theme, as well as identity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hmih's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

befrazzledenby's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

teacupsandfirereads's review

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

In a year of mediocre reads, this one really stands out. Though there was no real mystery, I loved seeing the character's lives over time. The writing was strong at the same time as being accessible. The characters were varied and complex. The story held a lot of emotions. It was full of heartbreak as well as hope. I do wish more space had been given to the ending and rebuilding the bonds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

rachellbc's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

mollysmith1313's review

Reading about the mother who abducted this girl, and the family complicit with it, makes me so sick with anger. Listening to the experiences of grief surrounding deaths and lost pregnancies is really tough to listen to as well. I ended up being to overall upset at the content to continue, but I applaud the author anyway. It truly is a well-written book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.0

**I originally gave this 3 stars, but after discussing with my book club and realising the weaknesses in pacing, structure, character development and language in this book, I revise my rating to 2 stars**

Saying that you wish a book had been a different book/that a story had been told differently feels like a cop-out in a review. An author chooses the story they want to tell, and that is the story the reader receives. Amanda Peters wanted to tell the story of two siblings who were torn apart by an awful act, and how the trauma of that act was mirrored throughout their lives into adulthood and middle age. 

The problems with this are that a) the drama of the book lags in the middle as the two characters move away from their traumatic childhood, before the reckoning of mortality brings them back to it in middle age, and b) the story of Joe is ultimately not as strong or believable as that of Norma's. I think this would have been a better book had it concentrated only on Ruthie's disappearance, or

the revelation of Norma's kidnapping and reunion with her family.

Similarly, I think a multiplicity of viewpoints, such as the other siblings, or the parents, or the Ellises who owned the berry farm, would have made the story stronger.

The highlight of this book for me was the way Peters wrote the complicated, twisted, guilt-ridden love between Norma and her mother. It was painful, heartwrenching, and rang utterly true.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide