Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Suicide Med by Freida McFadden

7 reviews

abanana101's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

tayreads10's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I honestly enjoyed this book. She definitely included pieces from Brain Damage in it too. Each part is the story told once again in the same timeline, but from a different character's perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder

sproutlaaar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

I know that there are mixed reviews about this book, but I personally loved it. 

The plot was so different to any of McFadden’s other stories, and it really kept me engaged. The only downside was the constant repetition of parts of the plot as she explained the backstory of each character, I feel this could have been a little faster paced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, and Murder

nyquillll's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Wow - I ended up reading this book all in one go as a result of a long travel day. Honestly, my head is still swirling a bit in the aftermath of finishing it...not sure if in a good or bad way necessarily. 

Things I liked: 

• The way the book was chunked and how each POV went back to the same starting point to add more and more context. I will admit, this did slow down the plot of the book for me, but I don't think Freida made things too redundant. She just kept revealing more and more of the inner dialogue of each character and making things more complex. 
• The way Matt was, for the most part..., a professor who really cared about his job, his students, and wanted to be a good teacher.
• The complexity of the characters and the exploration of morality, intent vs. impact, "by any means necessary" mentality, first impressions and real personalities, and how cutthroat med school can be.
• Mason's portrayal of his
  descent into madness
  and his connection with
  Ginny
  , though she really rubbed me the wrong way.
• Discussion and some representation of a disabled character (we learn how they became that way later in the story).

Things I didn't like as much:

• The, at times, slightly fatphobic comments, descriptions, or thoughts around weight gain and being of a bigger size. 
• Instead of a fast-paced psychological thriller, this felt more like a mystery that isn't solved until the very end, but in kind of an anticlimactic way - and by the time everything was revealed, we kind of already knew what happened because it had been alluded to in the other POVs. 
• I am not a fan at all of
  student-professor relationships
  , and was really surprised that this book talked about it, and covered it in a lot of detail. I could have done without. Though it was a bit better by the fact that the characters were in grad school, but still...It makes me feel icky. 
• Abe's storyline took up a whole bunch - and when I was reading it, I was really confused and wasn't sure if Freida was trying to add
  a fantastical element??
  to the story? But even after it all goes down, it kind of just poof disappears and there wasn't much resolution.
• The very last chapter, where it fast-forwards, I feel like Freida was trying to add a twist ending, but it kind of fell flat for me...Though it did answer a few questions about Abe and Heather. 
• The whole backstory of
  Frank
  wasn't super explained? I guess the
  tattoo
  wasn't important.
• The vicious way the characters treated one another to get ahead - the way they would talk about one another, at least in the inner monologues. (I'm not cut out to be someone like this, so I have a pretty visceral reaction)

I think overall, while I was invested in finishing the book, the way the plot resolved itself didn't have as much of a payoff as I would've liked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Medical content, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Some quotes I highlighted:

"Yes. I am a vegan." "Is that like a vegetarian?" "No, it's some weird religious thing."

"It's a warning to other roaches...So they know what will happen to them if they come in here."

"The cook did a great job."

"But is an eye really an eye if there is no brain to perceive its vision?"

"vanishing twin syndrome" ... "Craniopagus parasiticus, otherwise known as a parasitic twin"

"But mostly I'm saying it for my dead students. For all of them. I can't help but feel that somehow it's all my fault. And if anyone is listening, I want them to know: I'm sorry."

jspillane's review against another edition

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? No

1.0

What did I just read? I couldn’t wait for this book to be over. It was incredibly unrealistic at times (eye? Really ) and then the fact that some one almost SAd someone and then managed to still become a surgeon. I did not enjoy this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

jendif's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

A great suspense story from one of my new favorite authors. Had great character deveolpements and a strong plot. It did have some weird elements to it that did not make it as “realistic” as I usually like my suspense thrillers to be. It also had a few unanswered questions at the end. Overall a great psychological suspense thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma