Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

22 reviews

wormeaten's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

i thought about dropping this book at least 5 times before i got to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

acrosstheskyinstars's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcohol

pkc's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was such a bizarre book and I thiiiiink I get what it was going for. However, if you’re picking it up and thinking “ooh look a small murder mystery” it’s much more and I don’t know if I’d consider it a spoiler to say there’s no neat resolution. There are a ton of hints that suggest what has likely happened but no resolution per se. Vesta as a main character was fascinating but -

her actions strike me as being the actions of someone who is aging and trying to make sense of a traumatic life with a loathsome man as her mind fragments from age and trauma

This is the third Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve read and as with her previous books, it was wholly unlike anything else I’ve read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity and Mental illness

britts_booknook's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Blood

painausten314's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

oliviah1111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is very very slow paced. from what i understand, it was only over the span of 2-3 days. i enjoyed it either way, but there are some weird elements i didnt like.

there was random hints of fatphobia, and what kind of felt like fetishization of foreign women. this may be because of the narrator being an older woman, but it seemed to be the writers opinion sneaking through especially with the weird comments about fat people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Alcohol

isaarusilor's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Mental illness

natalia_booksss's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

erinbarton's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

5.0

first tried to read this back in dec 2021, got 50 pages in and gave up because i was bored and worried about going into a reading slump and not reaching my reading goal for the year

over a year later, i gave this another go after reading the rest of moshfegh’s work and enjoying all of them, especially eileen. the timing for giving this another go was just right - i read the whole book in one day and so didn’t mind the slow pace and just allowed myself to get swept up in the character’s inner monologue and imagined mystery. 

this was such an interesting read with so many clues peppered throughout. the main character was such an unreliable narrator, while following her “investigation” you also come across more questions of your own, the main one being — how much of this is actually real?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Murder

calais_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Fatphobia

Moderate: Mental illness