Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Small Pleasures

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

37 reviews

sararo23's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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ottercorg's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

As I work alphabetically through my TBR, based on what my local library has available, I can't seem to remember why I added this book to the list. I don't recall where I learned about it or what may have stood out to me, making me want to read it.

On top of that, it took me almost half the book to really get into the story. I almost gave up, until things started to get interesting between Jean and Howard. That's precisely what kept me reading - the true plot of the book itself was not particularly interesting to me.

All in all, I don't have much to say about this novel from Chambers. I give it 3 stars because I think it was well written, I enjoyed Jean as a character (in many ways I feel I can relate to her), and once I got into it I did enjoy it.

But I have to say I hate how everything resolved. I could not be more disappointed, on all accounts.

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swaino's review against another edition

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mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

This book gave me mixed emotions. The writing style was flawless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these perfectly curated sentences and chapters.

It’s the plot that has given me the mixed feelings. I regret to say that I believed it to be quite predictable, with the origins of the virgin birth being what I had expected from the very beginning. The ending was also quite unnecessary and, if I dare say, almost ruined the book for me (whether that was out of heartbreak for the main character or a somewhat lazy plot, I am not so sure).

Before the end, I wanted to give this book 4/5 stars, but the ending took me back. Perhaps after a few days of ruminating over this book I may change my mind.

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anyapoundall02's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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kthumphrey's review against another edition

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emotional informative lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the writing style and I think it fit very well with the time period and overall setting the book takes place in. There were just so many things I thought were lazy and/or unnecessary in the book. Everyone mentions the ending being so poorly thought out, and I totally agree. If you have to explain the ending in the afterword, maybe it shouldn’t have been the ending of the novel. It just felt so random. I also hate how this book dealt with some sensitive topics like mental illness and SA. Such a shame, because I liked the setting and the prose so much.

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