Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

6 reviews

rubybeast47's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Vomit, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Slavery, and Suicide

bookme007's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Sexual violence, and Bullying

professorbadger's review

challenging dark hopeful sad slow-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

This was a strange, gorgeous, poetic book. Also incredibly difficult, but in ways that felt like they mattered. As one character tells another (paraphrasing): “You lived all this. The least I can do is listen to your story.” 

This book is full of the kinds of stories we hate to believe happen in real life. But Cynthia Bond lived some of them and worked with teens who have lived others, and you can feel the truth of it all radiating out from her writing. And I really can’t overstate the beauty of Bond’s writing and the way she created a fully detailed world and living, breathing characters. Agonizing as it was to read, it was one of my favorite novels in a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Trafficking, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Pedophilia

lowkeymarie's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Beautiful writing, rich characters, and a well-crafted story. But the many, many scenes of graphic sexual abuse of children, among other highly disturbing content, was completely overwhelming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Racism, Racial slurs, Trafficking, and Vomit

incigiru's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Misogyny, Cursing, Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Gun violence

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Body shaming, Torture, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Animal death, Ableism, Biphobia, and Miscarriage

tina94's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Every trigger warning you could possibly imagine applies, oof

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Gore, Death, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty