sicksadlit's reviews
503 reviews

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

dark reflective medium-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

5.0

 I would say that this book is about to become my whole personality but that would be wrong since I feel like it already IS my personality. 

 

As a mentally ill girly, I rarely read any books that so perfectly encapsulate the experience of battling depression, anxiety, ADHD or even mania. But The Bell Jar practically reflected back to me the girl I was in my late teens. 

 

I have never felt so seen and understood by a book before and when I learned that it was the one and only novel Sylvia Plath wrote before she took her own life in 1963, my heart broke because it so easily could have been me in 2011. 

 

The slide from “normalcy” into complete and total breakdown was so insidious and accurately depicted, you can’t help but feel for Esther as she battles the dark recesses of her own mind. Anyone who has experienced a depressive episode or lives with chronic depression will see their experience written in the pages of this book. We may not all wind up in an asylum undergoing electric shock treatment these days but the events that led to it are still relevant today. 

 

The one flag is that there is some ugly, jarring racism in this book with stereotypes, racial slurs and even assault. One scene in particular makes for harrowing reading and readers should take care. The fact that this book was published in 1963 does not excuse the awful content but it does offer some context as to the very privileged, very white, very racist world that Sylvia Plath herself was a part of. 

 

Overall, The Bell Jar feels like the original My Year of Rest and Relaxation and for those who enjoy unhinged main characters, this one is the OG. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

The Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? No

3.5

Amma by Saraid de Silva

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

 Amma is a profoundly moving, complex, layered story about three generations of South Asian women and the thread of shared trauma and family history that binds them. 

 

From 10 year old Josephina living in old Singapore in the 1950s who is the victim of an act so horrific it is difficult to read, to young Sithara in 1984, newly arrived in Invercargill in New Zealand, reeling from the shock loss of her father and the realities of being the only brown face in every room, to Annie in 2018 who appears on her estranged uncle Suri’s doorstep in London unannounced, seeking refuge and answers about their family. 

 

I read Amma furiously, glued to every page and completely engrossed by Saraid's stunning, lyrical prose. It is not easy to tell a story with three different narrative points of view, but de Silva not only achieved this in spades but added such depth and poignancy to each character. Annie, Sithara and Josephina were incredibly well developed and their individual story lines and conflicts were masterfully woven together to deliver a challenging and gut-wrenching novel that deeply resonates with the reader. 

 

Amma devastated me, and as I lay in bed reading by the light of my phone torch so as not to wake my partner, I shook with muffled sobs and clutched my dog close to my chest as I felt the love for my family so immensely. 

 

What a stunning debut from Saraid de Silva, who has the elegance and sophistication of an author far beyond her years. Thank you for writing such an absolutely phenomenal novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

Rouge by Mona Awad

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

All That We Know by Shilo Kino

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

All That We Know is a stunning, searing and confronting novel that highlights the true and ongoing human impact of colonisation on Māori in Aotearoa. 

 

This book is humbling and vitally important for all Pākehā (white) and Pākehā-passing Kiwi, and actually should be required reading for us all. I have learned more about the disastrous impact of colonisation from this book than I have ever learned in school. 

 

Shilo Kino bravely crafts the poignant message of the ongoing trauma experienced by Māori through the lens of our main character Māreikura Pohe, a young, wāhine Māori on a journey to reclaim her reo and her identity. Māreikura’s experience demonstrates the many layers of intergenerational trauma, language trauma and the deep roots of colonisation that continue to weave through every day life. 

 

I cried many times during this book. I cried for Māreikura and her justified rage and anguish. I cried for Māreikura’s Gran Glennis and her horrific childhood experience having her reo and identity literally beaten out of her. I cried in shame for my role as Pākeha-passing in upholding colonisation and for the actions of the Pākeha before me to inflict it. 

 

All That We Know also got me thinking about my own intergenerational trauma. I thought about what life must have been like for my Grandmother, growing up First Nations Indigenous in Canada, who is now too traumatised to talk about it. 

 

This is a book that will stay with me for years to come and I am grateful, because we should never ever stop talking about the ongoing experience of Māori at the hands of colonisation and the ways in which we continue to uphold it. 

 

Thank you Shilo Kino, for writing such a vulnerable and visceral story. This is a story to be celebrated. 

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0