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renlheffernan's reviews
715 reviews
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
As someone who has been diagnosed in the past with schizoaffective disorder, I was a bit wary on what this book would be about and how detailed it would be. I was slightly afraid that it might be triggering for me, but that was not the case.
I enjoyed the first chunk of essays more than the last few. I'm not a highly spiritual person, to each their own on that fact and some of the essays delved into more spiritual memoir.
I found it interesting though, reading from another person's perspective on schizoaffective disorder/schizophrenia. She delved into topics that were interesting and the points she was trying to make held true, to a fault.
For example:She talked about one story that really affected me where a family had a schizophrenic son and the sister shot him thirteen times on the side of the road while the mother waited in the car. They talked about being terrorized by this person. The author then went on to talk about other cases where the family was affected by someone with mental health issues or organizations that cater to families and not the individual person with the issues. I am not sure if she was supposed to offer any sort of comfort or solutions, as she did not do so.
In the various essays she also talked about her personal experiences with mental health and how that transformed into various hospital stays, and psychotic episodes.She also mentions some movies and television scenes that discuss mental health whether negatively or positively. I really enjoyed that.
I was a little frustrated at the endit seemed to imply that her spiritual journey is what led to her not having symptoms/hallucinations, which good for her to be honest, but not everyone is like that.
Overall this was good but it was hard to say what I officially got out of this essay collection.
I enjoyed the first chunk of essays more than the last few. I'm not a highly spiritual person, to each their own on that fact and some of the essays delved into more spiritual memoir.
I found it interesting though, reading from another person's perspective on schizoaffective disorder/schizophrenia. She delved into topics that were interesting and the points she was trying to make held true, to a fault.
For example:
In the various essays she also talked about her personal experiences with mental health and how that transformed into various hospital stays, and psychotic episodes.
I was a little frustrated at the end
Overall this was good but it was hard to say what I officially got out of this essay collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma
In: A Graphic Novel by Will McPhail
emotional
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.25
In absolutely blew me away. The art was simply amazing and the expressions that Will was able to create for his characters were really moving. The story was really moving too. It was funny, yet emotional. I inhaled this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Medical content
Moderate: Cancer
Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I honestly think that this book promised so much but did not exactly deliver.
Lucy is a very interesting character, and she is redeemed from the original novel with an exploration of her vampiric life through her journals and a therapy client transcript. We have three separate timelines for the majority of the book. While I enjoyed some aspects of switching timelines when things got a bit slow or hooking you to read with a cliffhanger, but I felt certain things were rushed just for the sake of it. If this were a duology or something, I feel like I would feel better about the pacing because the author could take her time with developing character relationships and maybe make it a bit more gothic horror and less corporation/cultic horror.
Lucy is a very interesting character, and she is redeemed from the original novel with an exploration of her vampiric life through her journals and a therapy client transcript. We have three separate timelines for the majority of the book. While I enjoyed some aspects of switching timelines when things got a bit slow or hooking you to read with a cliffhanger, but I felt certain things were rushed just for the sake of it. If this were a duology or something, I feel like I would feel better about the pacing because the author could take her time with developing character relationships and maybe make it a bit more gothic horror and less corporation/cultic horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Death and Death of parent
The Light of Eternal Spring by Angel Di Zhang
emotional
reflective
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
4.0
The Light of Eternal Spring was such a nicely portrayed portrait of grief, mother-daughter relationships and more. In its magical realism and spiritual essence, it was a story about a woman truly going back to her roots and becoming better for it. There was beautiful imagery of the village of Eternal Spring and every so often it went back into the past when her mother was still alive. Truly a nice book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
emotional
reflective
fast-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
4.75
Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide by Cathia Jenainati
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
I had not read any other feminism books, but I have watched a few related videos on the topic, so I recognized some of the names mentioned in this very short introduction. It breezed through a lot of topics, and I wish it delved more into the plight of trans women. As it did mention, it is very Western in scope. It was informative, but very basic and introductory.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
dark
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book made me sob after finishing it, and I wasn't expecting to! I kind of knew what generally happens to Holden but I did not think it would affect me that greatly.
Holden Caulfield is one of those characters that really sticks with you, due to his strong narrative voice. You can't help but to root for the guy, even though he seems like a total prick.
Although he doesn't seem to change by the end, and there's none too much of an action packed plot to speak of, and the theme gets sort of muddled at the end, it was a great book and I understand why it became a classic.
I found that also some of the things did not age super well, which is kind of a given from books like this-- but if you look at in the context of it's time, and point out the issues of how it portrays certain groups of people, you can still have meaningful experience with the novel.
Holden Caulfield is one of those characters that really sticks with you, due to his strong narrative voice. You can't help but to root for the guy, even though he seems like a total prick.
Although he doesn't seem to change by the end, and there's none too much of an action packed plot to speak of, and the theme gets sort of muddled at the end, it was a great book and I understand why it became a classic.
I found that also some of the things did not age super well, which is kind of a given from books like this-- but if you look at in the context of it's time, and point out the issues of how it portrays certain groups of people, you can still have meaningful experience with the novel.
Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear by Matthew Salesses
challenging
mysterious
slow-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
3.5
This was one of the weirdest books I have ever read. Not necessarily weird in a bad way, or a problematic way, but just weird in general. I read it in about three to four sittings.
I gave it 3.5 stars because I enjoyed it, but it didn’t really blow me away.
Matt Kim was way too nonsensical for me. He seemed to make sense in his inner thoughts, but whenever he spoke it was just strangeness. I guess that was sort of the point. He was kind of unlikable, a cheater, a drunk, an inconsiderate guy.
I found the doppelgänger and disappearing stuff to be the most interesting. The way it was described had me invested in unraveling the mystery of it. Throughout the course of the novel, it became more and more apparent that disappearing had many meanings. It wasn’t explained why there were doppelgängers or why some people were disappearing, but it was fascinating!
I gave it 3.5 stars because I enjoyed it, but it didn’t really blow me away.
Matt Kim was way too nonsensical for me. He seemed to make sense in his inner thoughts, but whenever he spoke it was just strangeness. I guess that was sort of the point. He was kind of unlikable, a cheater, a drunk, an inconsiderate guy.
I found the doppelgänger and disappearing stuff to be the most interesting. The way it was described had me invested in unraveling the mystery of it. Throughout the course of the novel, it became more and more apparent that disappearing had many meanings. It wasn’t explained why there were doppelgängers or why some people were disappearing, but it was fascinating!