Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Confessions by Kanae Minato

59 reviews

heytait's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

Loved this book! It was a super quick, easyIread. I found the plot really satisfying while still presenting a critique of the character's actions. Only not a 5 star because some of the plot was a bit predictable, though I didn't mind so much as it was still such an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

bugsanddirt's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

gknott's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, and Abandonment

samseyz's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Murder

novi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I didn't expect this book to be this dark. Please check all the triggers before reading.

This is a very fast paced book, you can finish it in one sitting. There are parts that could make you exhausted, and there are parts that got a little boring, but most of it is a real page turner.

What I knew about this book before reading it was that it's about a teacher talked to a group of students, saying that she knew that they're the ones that killed her child in the past, and it made these students scrambling basically. And I thought the child was the same age as these students, and they're adult now. But noooo lol a bunch of reviewers talked about synopsis differently that it made me confused.

So the setting is in the current day, in a middle school. A middle school teacher's daughter was found dead. She was 4 years old. It was said to be accident, but the teacher (the mother) then realized she was actually murdered by her own students. This book is her revenge. And it was a satisfying revenge.

But me having a vague picture about this book made my reading experience so much better and more tense, because I didn't even knew what's gonna happen and how this book was formatted so uniquely. Tbh i was a bit hesitant to pick another popular japanese murder book after Girls in the Dark, but this book has a lottt of good reviews from people i actually trust. Plus i read The Decagon House Murders and i really liked it. The reviews are right. The story telling is unique, i would say it's a bit similar with Girls in the Dark BUT the execution is so so so much better.

I said this book was about revenge, so if you like the "good for her" stories, this is for you, but i think a lot of it is also about gender roles in traditional families, dysfunctional family, and parenting. The multiple POVs in this book really shows that what's seen is not always what's real, and you get to see where and why a person behaves like this and that, and i love that. 

I took half the star because i can't give 5 stars to books that made me uncomfortable like this lol i mean it's really good but it didn't give me the "omg it's sooo perfect" feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

A 4.5 ⭐️ read turned to a 5⭐️ with the last page. 

Every chapter felt like a slap in the face in the best way possible. It is absolutely like Camus meets Heathers, filled with characters who are shitty but you can’t help kind of rooting for?

The revenge is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s a really interesting tale about cycles of abuse and grief, and how revenge isn’t always the answer but sometimes does make you feel better. 

A really satisfying read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

cady_sass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

Holy shit. Goosebumps. CHILLS. This is how you write thriller/horror. My jaw is on the floor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

spooderman's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Transphobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

eve81's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

chloseencounter's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.5

Confessions was a fun little read and while it had its problems, I thought some of the ideas used here where very unique. It’s hard to do things that have rarely been done before and I think this novel accomplished that. 

The strongest literary device here to me was that this book was the same exact story being told from different POVs multiple times, while this at moments felt a little repetitive I loved that every chapter could be the same events but a completely different story based on the narrator. Every new retelling flipped what you had known previously on its head which made you question each character. There were times where I felt disgust and sympathy  toward each person and it all depended on who was talking. 

I wasn’t sure how they’d wrap this all up but I think the end was a nice little tie up to the events of the story and ultimately as close to Justice as one could expect in a situation like this. 

Overall, this was an interesting read and while it could’ve grabbed me more I did appreciate the use of unique story telling and I’m excited to watch the movie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship