Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski

12 reviews

fink1129's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Self harm, Death, Terminal illness, Animal death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fatphobia, Medical content, Drug use, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

tantmalla's review

adventurous reflective fast-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? No

3.5

It felt a little cringe trying to be "dark and edgy" at times. Some characters were forgettable, like they did nothing for the plot, some were annoying as fuck (Karen I'm looking at you) but others were nice and lovable. The ending redeemed the book for me, I think it was a "nice" ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

Minor: Self harm

ayanez427's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide, Death, Murder, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Self harm, Terminal illness, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

mayukiiq's review

3.5

a very absurd little book. obviously some very heavy subjects, but laced with enough humour and loveliness to make them somewhat palatable. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Drug use, Death, and Self harm

cernst09's review

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body shaming, Murder, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Self harm, Death, and Addiction

storyale's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gun violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Murder, and Sexual violence

The characters are believable, and if you have a soul and an open mind, you can empathize and understand without necessarily being in agreement.

lizama's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Suicide, Mental illness, Alcohol, Gun violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual content, and Addiction

bookclubwithbk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Medical trauma, Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Murder, Chronic illness, Car accident, Grief, and Animal death

laur312's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Child abuse

jcstokes95's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.25

 

*Read this review at your own risk. It is not nice.* 

I mean, this book has really inspired a rage I did not know could be unlocked in me. A few weeks ago, I watched a booktuber talk about how she hated books that emotionally manipulated the reader and I didn’t really know what she meant. But, THIS BOOK is the most emotionally manipulative, exploitative thing I have ever read; so much so it borders on dangerous. 

I believe the author was trying to open up a dialogue on suicide as a choice, writing about how we should have ownership over our own bodies. An interesting topic for sure, and the premise intrigued me. I didn’t expect it to be uncontroversial, but holy shit. It becomes clear that the author might be muddy on his own message. It seems like choice is the point, but then in the last page

we get Karen giving this completely out of left field speech about how their writing will serve as a warning to people to turn back from suicide

which is …. she opposite of what she thought the whole book, and the opposite of, well, 6 hours previously. It was jarring and after school special-esque. Which isn’t a surprise, because much of the book had the depth of an after school special. 

The book serves as a shallow exploration of all the reasons a person might kill themselves. Because there are so many characters, we never get to breathe and really understand their motivations. So, in the end, the reasons are….I am fat…I have a chronic illness…I am an addict…I was abused. The thing is, because everything is so surface, I feel the book runs the risk of, justifying suicide for these groups of people. And it certainly doesn’t tell their full stories. To my knowledge, the author is none of these things and it is painfully obvious. These people do not talk or act suicidal (I understand there are a multitude of ways to act when mentally ill, but…omg). They seem to be….completely emotionally detached from their plan, which detached me as a reader. 

But, I have to say, I’m glad that I learned to detach throughout this book. Because it is essentially self-indulgent trauma porn. There are two on page gang rapes. Just, to be clear, there are TWO on page gang rapes. I really should not have to say more than that. But, WHY? Why? I don’t get it. Someone please tell me why?! And they get MAD at one person for being victimized? Fucking WHY? 

I feel like the content of the book is reason enough to send me into a thousand years of rage. But, while we’re here…the writing quality, pacing, and characterization is also whack. Chock the bad characterization up to not know how to write a bipolar person, Black person, fat person, etc. But the pacing was truly weird, I felt like we were always on little paths to nowhere. And then the end happens in an absolute mad dash. I am also, deeply confused by the writing style. I will commend one thing…he does manage to separate a lot of character’s voices…in the start, this fades as time passes. And every once and a while, there will be a great section of writing. And then three pages later, it will be very, tumblr girl writes prose poem. I am not sure if this is meant to match character voice or is actually author intent to infuse wisdom. Either way…WHACK. 

I hope the author does not see his mission aligning with Karen’s ending speech. If he believes this could ever be anything other than a minefield of triggers for suicidal reader, he may be nuts. A real shame, I had really looked forward to reading a novel from him after reading another beautiful piece of his writing. But, sometimes, life is disappointing, and your reading choices make you want to jump off a cliff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, and Addiction

Moderate: Murder

This is a read at your own risk book. I do not think it delicately handles it's subject matter and recommend caution.