Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

5 reviews

sonygaystation's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I wasn’t quiet sure where this was going to go, even with it being a Frankenstein-inspired book. Sometimes the character actions felt a little confusing (ie. between Iris and Vi) but as it got further and further in the book I just got sad for everyone. I do wish there was a little more build up to the twist (which I did feel I started to guess pretty early on) rather than just spending time with the characters for the sake of it. I loved Eric he had my whole heart and I was sad at That One Part ™️. Also I enjoyed what was really going at the end, like give me more of that please!! It felt like a Mindy McGinnis novel there and I love her books 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Blood

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a really enjoyable and engaging read. It was  eally well written, especially in how the storytelling explores how a story can be warped as it passes through multiple perspectives. Young Eric, Violet, and Iris are lovely and the pacing between the late 70s and late 2010s works really well. This is another one of those books, that while I know it's horror, it doesn't read as necessarily scary for me. The nuance of the characters was the driving force behind the book.

one thing that was Neve quite far enough explored was the kiss scene. I think it was meant to express Violet's impulsiveness seeping back through as she forsakes the medications she's being given and looks into what she thinks is Iris's past. That and the lure Violet feels towards Iris; the desire to know and be known. Just having that expressed through a kiss between characters referred to as sisters throughout the whole rest of the book was odd. Especially so when it was never brought up again. Violet having wished for a sister, and having that wish fulfilled is deeply unsettling, knowing their Gran had Eric keeping tabs on her and was using hypnosis on her. The ending of the book and the uncovering that Violet is patient S puts quite a lot of earlier events into perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Grief, Violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Animal death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, Body horror, Medical content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Ableism, and Incest

Also warning for eugenics

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.75

in the 1970s, Vi and her brother live with their brilliant psychiatrist grandmother, who brings home a new "sister" for them.  Iris is mute and has injuries.  Slowly she comes out of her shell and the children have a club where they imagine they will hunt monsters.  In modern day, now as adults, one of the sisters is hunting the other one, who she suspects of being a serial killer.  Sounds good, right?  Unfortunately, it is pretty obvious which sister is the latter-day narrator, so the surprise falls flat.  There are a couple of other twists that are pretty obvious.  There is a fake out regarding the murdering sister that was nicely done, but then it is walked back.  On one hand, I think the book needed that final punch, but on the other hand, I am not sure how I feel about it affecting the message of the book about people being the real monsters. 

If people are the real monsters (and Iris believes there are real supernatural monsters too), and you have to kill your monster to start over and live, aren't you also becoming a monster?  Are we all just monsters?  If so, doesn't that lessen the impact of the "real" monsters among us? Aren't we supposed to be able to rise above our upbringings?  You could argue the grandmother created a monster in Vi, but Iris turned out more or less fine. As I said, I am ambivalent.

I would have vastly preferred we spend more time with the adult sister.  The story in the past kind of dragged on, since it was super obvious what was happening with both Iris and Vi.  I was also hoping for more from the Mary Shelley angle, but oh well.  This was a fine book and I enjoyed reading it, but I literally forgot I had even read it two days later, which is reflected in the rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Murder, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Mental illness

gondorgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Addiction, and Alcoholism