Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

36 reviews

kathrynshields's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

The story started strong but meandered in a way that didn’t serve the plot or character development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Self harm, Outing, Mental illness, Abortion, and Deadnaming

Minor: Animal death, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

The story addresses transphobia and intimate partner violence at length, but does not promote either.

londeen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Outing, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Murder, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Deadnaming, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

daniellereadslikealot_'s review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Nineteen Minutes is my absolute favorite Picoult novel and this one is a very, VERY close second. Mad Honey absolutely sweeps you away in its part contemporary family drama, part murder mystery and part young adult story. I am an absolute sucker for multiple POVs and a non linear timeline and this book did them both so well, giving us just enough to make us think we know the story, but then revealing something else to completely throw us off the scent. It’s hard to talk about this book without revealing spoilers for the midway through twist, but I thought the handling of that topic was done beautifully and in a really authentic way. I also loved the look at complicated relationships, even during the parts that were really sad to read. I thought both Olivia and Lily had strong voices and I liked the (maybe) symbolism of the literal (and figurative) masks they wore, Lily with her fencing and Olivia as a beekeeper. My only complaint was the ending felt a bit rushed. The final big reveal made perfect sense and it was honestly an option I was rooting for, but once revealed, it felt like everything just went back to normal. But overall, I loved this book. It’s brutal at times in many different ways and contexts, but I think it’s a very necessary read, especially these days.

Mini spoiler: nothing bad happens to the dog!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, Child death, Transphobia, Abortion, Bullying, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death

chloeerushworth's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

kcbas1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

kvrapcu's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Grief, Mental illness, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Abortion, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Self harm

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

 I would like to preface this by saying that I kind of went into this book blind. The only thing I knew was what the synopsis told me (which I think was purposefully done by the authors) and I think depending on how open-minded you are, I think you should do the same. However, I would like to state that as an avid thriller reader, I don't think this should be marketed as a “thriller”, it's a light mystery at best. So if you’re expecting anything thriller-crazy, don’t. 

But anyway, I LOVED this book! It did take me a while to love it though. As I was reading in the beginning, I liked it but I didn’t love it, but it all came together soon enough. There are so many layers here and stories told that this book provides lots of depth. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was getting really attached to the characters and even teared up a couple of times hearing what they had to go through (especially one character in particular). And I love how multifaceted and flawed our main characters were; I feel like it humanized them in a way because with stories like this sometimes authors make the characters a little too perfect that it takes the authenticity of the story and the character.

The writing is sooooo good! I could literally feel the characters' emotions through the page. I LOVED this book so much and I personally was a big fan of how educational it was considering I knew nothing of what it would've been like to be in Lily's situation. 

The only qualms I have with this book is that I wasn't really into the "bee talk", but some metaphors did stick (no pun intended). Also, in regards to Lily and Asher's relationship (loved them, they were the type of toxic that you actually want to root for) and them "knowing each other so well"; I feel like we were TOLD that rather than shown. I would've loved a few scenes dedicated to them having innocent fun and listing things they had in common rather than just being told that they have this phenomenal connection.

Also, that scene that we get about Asher being okay with Lily being trans. I wish we could've gotten that reveal through Lily's flashback instead of Olivia's present perspective. Because in Lily's POV it shows him freaking out and storming out of her bedroom when he found out. I feel like it would've been more impactful if we got a dedicated scene in her perspective of him being okay with her being trans and loving for "who she was, not what she was".

  Also, another thing, I feel like the ending "twists" was so underwhelming. 

It being Maya to be the one that pushed her was so cliche and felt like a cop-out to me (I was hoping it would've been Dirk). And her not facing any repercussions for what she did piss me off because she literally killed someone and got away with it. The writing was so good in this book that I think I'm gonna cock it up them being in a rush and unsure how to end the book. It's a great book regardless,  but the ending twist was not it. The overall ending was good though.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Child abuse, and Hate crime

Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content

Minor: Sexism, Blood, Body horror, Abortion, Alcoholism, and Animal death

crazycactus12321's review against another edition

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

2.5

This is a really graphic book that depicts trans violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

elainacm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Transphobia and Sexual content

cryfest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Reading this as a trans queer non-binary person who has loved Jodi Picoult (one of the authors of this book) since high school -  I was a little apprehensive because I wasn’t sure if I trusted Jodi with my trans siblings, and while heart breaking, a lot of nuance to trans identities was explored compassionately, with the genius and lived experience of Finney Boylan of course. I definitely would encourage non-trans folks to read this as a small slice of insight to one fictional trans person’s experience/journey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Hate crime, Mental illness, Outing, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Pedophilia, Abortion, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Mass/school shootings