Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Upstairs House: A Novel by Julia Fine

15 reviews

funkbgr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

This book focuses on a fictional woman's perceived post partum depression. It is difficult to read at times.

sassyram's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Biphobia, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, and Self harm

Minor: War, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse

unboxedjack's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy and Mental illness

jaimc's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Minor: Fatphobia

giannacolo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Postpartum distress and issues

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Pregnancy

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

The Upstairs House is an unflinching descent into postpartum depression. Megan's continuous insistence to herself (and others) that everything is just fine as she falls apart is absolutely devastating. Haunting as a metaphor for mental illness works so well in this novel. I applaud Julia Fine for her nuanced take on this all-too-real subject matter.

All that being said, the formatting of this book left a little to be desired. Megan's haunting is constantly interrupted by her own academic writing (which works) and flashback vignettes featuring Margaret and Michael (which doesn't work). The flashbacks seemed unnecessary. As a reader, I already knew about Michael and Margaret's characters through their haunting and through Megan's dissertation. I honestly didn't care that much about their pasts and would have preferred more focus on Megan and the way they influenced her. This was her story, not theirs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Lesbophobia

d_nice_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Gaslighting

megwilli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

robbiclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

Now and then, a book can be both an unsettling and satisfying read despite how contradictory that feels. The Upstairs House is exactly that for me. In this book, a woman who begins motherhood with some ambivalence finds herself in the earliest days of her daughter’s life, haunted by Margaret Wise Brown and her partner, Michael Strange. (Yes, you read that right.) The idea of a haunting here is both literal and metaphorical - so yes, this is a ghost story but in some ways it’s about being haunted by relationships that end without closure, by ambition that never really comes to fruition, by what it means to be a woman. This read actually made me feel a little upside down and I wouldn’t recommend it for readers who have unresolved or complicated experiences around parenthood. The writing is immersive and clever, the characters both lovable and utterly reprehensible, the tone somehow moving between humorous and devastating. I think this could almost be five stars but it felt like part of the plot was missing for me, something rushed through in the middle. Really clever, important, and engaging read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment

thefaultismine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, and Terminal illness