Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

81 reviews

quirpele's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• 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: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, and Trafficking

lectora21's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Excrement, and Kidnapping

emeshenaenae's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

A heartbreaking, but hopeful narrative that gives a moving overview of several generations of a family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Mental illness and Slavery

lorenag5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was such a page-turner, I think I read it in two nights. It's educational and makes you think broadly about the intergenerational trauma of the slave trade that reverberates to this day, but does so with specific stories of individuals that are enjoyable and engaging even apart from their historical implications. Really excellent.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

unfiltered_fiction's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual violence

achingallover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• 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: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Grief

laurikas's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Even though the themes covered by this book are some of the worst in our history, it was a majestic read.

I am so impressed by this story and the whole premise of this book, I was hooked from the very beginning. I wish there was more of it - the characters were so well developed that you felt you knew them, and my heart was broken many times, but also inspired. Freed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, and Grief

deepfriedaries's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

curatoriallyyours's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book is a genealogical epic, tracing the lineage of two sisters who never knew each other from their beginnings in Ghana in the slave trade era. The story is presented in vignettes - the two family lines taking turns in telling their story with each generation. A family tree at the beginning of the book is most useful in keeping track of where each narrator sits within the lineage. The aspect I appreciated most in this book is the deep dive it takes on the far-reaching effects of the colonial mindset and the slave trade. I also love the characters and how we get to know them and their struggles in each vignette. One of the other takeaways for me was the lack of agency that women had and how each woman in the story coped under the circumstances she found herself in. A beautifully written book with vivid characters and important stories to tell.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, and Grief

Knowing this book is about slavery, most references to sensitive topics are absolutely historically contextual and, in my opinion, not overdone.