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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
The Castle School (for Troubled Girls) by Alyssa Sheinmel
14 reviews
cortanasreadingnook's review
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Drug Use/Addiction
- Self-Harm
- Trichotillomania
- Eating Disorder (ED)
- Anorexia
I unfortunately had to DNF at 20%. I did not find myself enjoying this book at all. I really wanted to give it a try, but the story wasn't interesting enough for me to continue. I applaud how this book brutally deep dives into mental illnesses, but the pacing was enough put me off. With that amount of progress, I expected at least something to keep me afloat, but it did not live up to my expectations of this book as a whole.
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Confinement
Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm
kenzweth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Mental illness
janaya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Blood, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Eating disorder
sting_ray_'s review
- 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
5.0
Minor: Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Self harm, Mental illness, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
tbwhite23's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Cancer, Blood, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Alcohol
libriinks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Cancer, Addiction, Mental illness, and Self harm
beckyremillard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Cancer, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Blood
annieslibrary's review
- 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
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Vomit
haykey's review
- 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
Graphic: Self harm, Mental illness, and Death
trigger warnings included before book beginsalisazhup's review against another edition
- 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
Eleanor grins. ‘Of course. Aren’t you? Aren’t we all?’”
I knew I had to read this after how much I enjoyed Sheinmel’s other book, A Danger to Herself and Others, and because of the way the synopsis promised to bring together my two favorite themes: boarding schools and mental health.
The characters’ issues are diverse- anorexia, kleptomania, selective mutism- and I was excited to see that the author devoted one chapter to each of the backstories. I was disappointed that some of the characters seem stereotyped, especially the characters with ADHD and OCD (ADHD goes deeper than being unable to concentrate and OCD is more than wanting to be organized). However, these stereotypes didn’t show up enough to take away from my experience. Plus, some of the characters seem very realistic in contrast (Eleanor is well done).
I was interested in the chapters where we got to see Moira (the protagonist) have therapy with Dr. Prince. I read a lot of books centered around mental health and most of them skip over when the character goes to therapy. Sheinmel most likely researched how a therapist would work through grief with a person. There are certain phrases/teachings I’ll remember from Dr. Prince (“move forward, not on”) (“this is what it is”).
I remember loving A Danger to Herself and Others because it showed the truth about how not everyone with mental health issues gets a happy ending. The Castle School showed that sometimes people with mental illnesses do recover. We need to see both things in literature.
Themes:
✅Boarding schools
✅Mental health
✅Therapy
✅Grief
Similar Books:
✅The Year After You by Nina de Pass
✅A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel
✅It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Cancer, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Medical content
Minor: Bullying