Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

109 reviews

keenanmaree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Infidelity, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug abuse

gabriella_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

i like the fantasy/sci-fi world building and framework for this book, it has a lot of potential. but the actual prose and character writing left more to be desired. i was not engaged with the protagonist at all. the writing was very dry (but picks up later on).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Animal death, Medical content, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

kenzibir's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book and the perspective it gives! Highly recommend to everyone who are at a crossroads in life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

alliejm00's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Vomit

Minor: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Toxic friendship

acidicgoddess's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is cozy despite the serious topics it talks about. Reading it felt like reading someone’s thoughts unwind, or listening to someone go on and on about a topic they’re passionate about. The author has somehow made this book have life (that is to say, it has spirit) about a topic on life without hammering life lessons into the reader. I honestly believe that everyone should read this if they’re going through a tough spot.

The only reason it isn’t a 5 is because, once I had gotten 200 pages in, it felt like things should be wrapping up, and there’s still 88 pages left. Maybe it’s because I haven’t taken much of a break from reading the book, but it’s just so good that I don’t want to put it down!

At the end of the day, concerning lower reviews on this book, I think the target audience is for “those who get it, get it”. I’ve had people come up to me and say “your life cannot be that bad” — it really was. It felt like every new day inspired a new problem, and that’s why I found the beginning of the book so relatable. Especially when the mc compares herself to a black hole. 

If you’re debating on reading this just because someone says it’s deep and that’s all, feel free to give the book a read but I highly doubt it’ll have the same impact on you than those of us who have lived the mc’s life. 

And yes, while the ending is unrealistic, it’s still fiction. Books are supposed to make us feel better, not remind us of the hell we’re still living. Not even the mechanics of the library are realistic, so don’t read into it. :p

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Self harm

milesss's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

it just wasn't very good. the opening sequence is describing the character going into a deep depressive spiral that leads to her suicide and it reads like it's trying to be comedic and failing. completely emotionally unaffecting. it gets good for about 35 pages in the middle (118-153) when she goes to the arctic and then goes back downhill again after that. ends how you imagine. best sequence is 124-134. there's a polar bear and some funny chapter titles.

if you think the premise of explorng alternate realities sounds interesting i'd recommend my real children by jo walton

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide, Self harm, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Alcoholism, and Cancer

gaillypoo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.0

There was no warning about the self harm and that would have been an easy and helpful thing to add

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Mental illness, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Car accident, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Addiction, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Mental illness, Stalking, and Medical content

saliwali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

I made it 30 minutes into this book last spring and stopped because, trigger warning,

it starts with suicide because someone is losing everything and I was afraid it would push me over the edge.

But the last category on my 2023 reading challenge is "a book you started but didn't finish," So I gave it a another shot this week. I wish so much that I had made it to minute 36 last spring, which is oddly the whole point of this unbelievably beautiful and hopeful book. Spoiler alert: she thrives.

sparrowhearted's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Have not read a book this fast in a while. Did not take notes while reading so I'm not sure about details I liked or did not like, but I don't feel like it really hit that arbitrary four-star rating to me.
Would recommend it if I know the person I'm recommending it to would already be interested in that sort of story, but I'm not sure I'd claim it's a must-read in general.
 
- Protagonist Nora's experiences do shape her in relatively believable ways for most of the part since they work with what's already present in her, rather than provoke a complete 180. Her development sometimes feels a little heavy-handed, but never downright forced. This might be a personal problem but I'm still not sure, however, if by the end of the story I had a proper sense for who Nora is? 
A lot of her personality traits felt relatable but in a way she read a bit like a horoscope, hitting a lot of points that felt like she was developed in a way that was supposed to make her relatable to the widest audience possible. The fact that we never witness much of the alternate Noras' personalities only made that more glaring to me.

- The book is fairly fast-paced once you get into the eponymous Midnight Library and my short attention span appreciated that, but it also meant that a lot of things were shown on a surface level.

-The more I think about it, the more I think my biggest gripe is how the fast pace takes some of the impact of its story? In many cases I didn't feel like I stayed long enough with the events to feel much more than what the book was telling me to, and I'm not sure I liked that.

- The cast is, from what I can tell, largely white but there is some diversity in regards to social backgrounds and sexuality. That being said, none of these marginalized identities are examined much and as such, it feels like all of these factors are more passing matters rather than important aspects of the characters and story.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Will not comment on original's writing style, since I read a translation and don't have anything to compare it to. The translation had a good flow, felt natural and wasn't complicated to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse

mattyvreads's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book was not for me, but I understand it’s appeal and I do think that it is well written. I thought that, overall, the story was predictable and the message was heavy-handed. It is a fun premise that feels like it’s been explored many times before…

I liked the concept of the Midnight Library itself. That was very intriguing. 

As I write this, I don’t know if I had a definitive problem with the story or if I just didn’t care for the book. There was something about the way in which the depiction of suicide and its aftermath gave me pause. I don’t know if I can put that into words. 

At the end of the day, it was not my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Emotional abuse