Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Third Person by Emma Grove

23 reviews

kbweis's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

i read this is one sitting, which i wouldn’t recommend because this is a really heavy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

cassius_orion's review against another edition

informative mysterious fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

kenrya's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

A young trans woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder heals a lot of her childhood trauma basically in spite of her therapist, who’s pretty much the worst. Seriously, all new therapists should have to read this book as a handbook for how NOT to therapist.

The art style is simple and highly effective. The repetitive conversations, which might otherwise bug me, here feel necessary to emphasize how much bs Grove’s therapist put her through, and how often. I rooted for Grove the whole way through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Toxic masculinity

aetherkids's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol

abbie_'s review

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

A beast of a graphic memoir that I’m very glad I read on my iPad - carpal tunnel just thinking about holding a 920-page graphic novel. This is an autobiographical work, depicting Emma’s struggles to transition after being diagnosed with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). It’s intense, and often frustrating, as Emma has the misfortune of having possibly the least empathetic therapist in the world. Toby was awful and I hope he is no longer practising. Their circling and aggressive (on Toby’s part) conversations were unpleasant to read, so imagine how Emma must have felt experiencing that, if it feels exhausting as an outside reader. 

I liked the way Grove depicted her alters - it was easy to see from facial expressions and posture who was fronting at the time. The art is fairly simple, black and white, and I read that Emma didn’t write in order - she just sat down to sketch what she remembered, then pieced it together. This is definitely visible in the choppy, pell-mell style, and I think works well depicting the turmoil Emma was experiencing at the time. 

Beyond heartened that Emma found a therapist who took the time to understand her better and who was versed in DID. Wish her nothing but the best and all the healing for the trauma she endured as a child. 

Read for TSG Genre Challenge 2023: Read a book with more pages than 2022’s longest book & Queer Your Year 2023: Over 500 pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

daniellekat's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Wow. This was intense, insightful and emotional. This was an incredible account of the author's gender transition and reckoning with her D.I.D. diagnosis. I thought the sparse illustrations were fitting, but I found the facial expressions a bit lacking. It was hard for me to really understand some of the nuances during the conversations with Toby. On the topic of Toby,

From the blub I thought he was going to be a supportive asset to Emma but was actually shocked with his treatment of her. I was unprepared for some of those scenes and often had to take breaks between certain chapters. I understand that there is a level of narrator unreliability here, but the disrespect and mistreatment was appalling.

Overall, I enjoyed this especially since it is a topic I am very unfamiliar with, but I'd strongly recommend checking the content warnings on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

Medical malpractice

magical_sof's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.25

Overall, I think Emma's story is very well written and drawn. Her experiences with healthcare (specifically with receiving mental health care) as a trans person is unfortunately all to common. I feel for her experiences during therapy deeply, and found myself worrying about her (almost) never ending therapeutic relationship with Toby! I enjoyed that part. 

I will say that this book is not an educational book about DID, and I would caution folks reading this book to gain a better understanding of DID, if they have no prior knowledge. I understand there is only so much you an put in a graphic novel, and only so much that you are willing to personally disclose as an author, or even only so much you can remember, but I find the (clinical/practical) explanation and (personal) resolution of DID to be quite fast! I came into this having read several books from those with lived experience, and knowing systems, so I didn't have any issues understanding, but if you have no knowledge, it may be helpful to do a bit of background reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Dysphoria

hunkydorky's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Dysphoria