Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

6 reviews

horizonous's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

This is definitely a strange book and I feel like I missed a lot of social commentary. What I enjoyed the most is this hazy, almost dreamlike atmosphere and the beasts. There are some parts that left me a bit confused, but overall a fascinating book.

I think this type of short story collections, where the stories all follow a connected thread work a lot better for me than a book filled with separate stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Self harm, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Self harm

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, and Child death

laurareads87's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Strange Beasts of China follows an unnamed narrator who writes about beasts: creatures of various kinds who inhabit the city of Yong'an and who are different in some way but 'otherwise are just the same as humans.'  Each chapter relates the story of one type of beast, while also touching on the relationships between the narrator and other characters, particularly her professor and his assistant.  The whole book has a sort of eerie, mysterious tone, and the writing is beautiful.  The author addresses many themes -- labour exploitation, gendered oppression, urban alienation, grief -- in nuanced ways.  I will say I did like the beginning of the book more than the ending, and the 'twists' at the end felt abrupt and a bit out of place, but overall I really enjoyed this and would happily read more from the same author.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicide, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Medical content, Sexism, Grief, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Cannibalism

mmikadze's review

2.25

DNF @ 52%

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Content Warnings

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

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Strange is definitely the correct adjective for this book. It reads like a mix between a bestiary and a series of interconnected short stories, with an overarching meta-plot that breaks the fourth wall. At points I definitely lost track of what was going on, but for the most part I really enjoyed this one.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Magical realism

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Forced institutionalization