Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

12 reviews

kyriannaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

This book felt like the beginning part of a journey, not the whole journey. There's little hope or encouraging parts to hold on to in all the lonely darkness this book deals with. It's clearly an incredibly well researched piece, but with how heavy and dark the content can become, I wish more research was done to show us how to reconnect among this loneliness. Many times I felt it was building to something, or there was the start of a beautiful concept, only to be abruptly cut off and the topic changed leaving the book feeling disjointed. While this isn't the fault of the author's, due to it being written pre-COVID there is no mention of it other than the beginning author's note. Which left the whole book feeling very 'small scale' compared to what the world had just experienced.
The last 100 pages or so were incredibly difficult to read, especially with imagery. It's about Harry Harlow's monkey experiments, which I struggle to understand why they were necessary to include in the first place, at such a graphic level.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Medical content

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Abortion

the non-graphic summary of the study is that Harry Harlow was researching isolation, what it does to those isolated, how those isolated react upon joining a group, and how that group reacts. However as it went on he became more and more sadistic and abusive towards the monkeys. And around 100 pages are spent on this, in detail, with an attempt to humanize and explain what he did

ms_elchert's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Alcohol

Minor: Dementia, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts

amberinpieces's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Grief, Mental illness, and Alcohol

paigeinabook's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

lowbrowhighart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Big trigger warning for animal cruelty/torture! Part of the book details Harry Harlow's experiments with Rhesus monkeys. Wish I would've known that before reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Torture, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexism, Hate crime, Death, and Cancer

tyrannosaurus_reads's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Mental illness

ka_cam's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

The graphic novel format makes this book go fast, and I think I’d have found it more engaging if I were 1. more actively lonely right now and 2. Less generally familiar with the history/physiology research (so it would be new). At time moving meditation on loneliness but at other times the transitions between personal narrative and research/history felt choppy. Would recommend for anyone interested in loneliness though, since it is so quick to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Animal death, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death, Dementia, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Cancer

ce_read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Torture, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Rape, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Death of parent

anniefwrites's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

It's hard to describe this book; it's not a solutions-based book by any means, but more of an exploration of a topic that weaves together the author's own experience and more scientific and historical data. Radtke does a great job of making every word count while balancing the text with provocative and beautiful images. I do think that her points got a little muddled at times, but in general I felt very seen by this book and would definitely pick up another book by her in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Grief, and Abandonment