Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

31 reviews

booksandstarss's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Chronic illness

jkamler's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.0

Overall I found this book difficult to get through, I almost DNF’d several times. It’s an interesting form of hybrid memoir but ultimately I don’t find the author’s story that compelling, and I walked away without any concrete examples of how to endure hard times, except for having the privilege to take voice lessons, travel to see the Northern Lights, or go for a dip in natural hot springs. I also think it’s worth noting that the Anglican vibes in this book are strong and somewhat unexpected, which I guess is understandable since the author is British, but at times I felt alienated by it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness and Mental illness

shelfofunread's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy and Medical content

Minor: Grief and Suicidal thoughts

leontyna's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

2.0

I'd give it 1 star but I learned about hibernation in octodons, that's the reason it has 2. Overall, the book was too long, very pretentious and could be downright harmful in suggesting ice baths as cure for bipolar disorder. Not worth the time spent reading it, I'd have dnfed if not for the book club - I wanted to be able to refer to the whole book, not just a part I forced myself to read.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness and Pregnancy

cemorgan1998's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

myk_yeah's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

Simply amazing. This book soothed the parts of me that feel bad for feeling bad. May reflects on how it's okay to feel bad. Life does contain suffering. And that slowing down in the winter (whether it's a season of the earth or a season of your life) is natural. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cancer, and Mental illness

Minor: Medical content

mmccombs's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.0

Lots of great nuggets in this book, but I think the blend of memoir and non fiction didn’t really work for me. Loved the concept, and I really appreciated a message of slowing down and welcoming sadness/unhappiness as a signal to take care of yourself and make a change. However, at the end of this book I was asking myself: what does wintering look like when you can’t change or leave your job? When you can’t surround yourself with softness and food and sleep? And what would this book look like if we expanded outside a Euro-centric view on winter (i.e. cold, snow, etc) and considered places and people who don’t experience winter in the same way?  Probably beyond the scope of this book, and I might have come in with the wrong expectations, but I would have liked to explore more diverse approaches to and experiences with wintering.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

midwichtriffid's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcoholism, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

enchantressreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

“Winter is a time for libraries, the muffled quiet of book stacks and the scent of old pages and dust.”

I didn’t realize how much I needed this book until I finished it.

Wintering is basically about how when we go into bouts of depression and bad times, we need to feel it. We need to properly assess our feelings instead of trying to ignore it and get over it as fast as possible. 

Feel that pain. Don’t let it overwhelm you, but feel it. Take a break. Take some time off. Do something just for you. Take care of yourself. The best way to get over a depressive episode is through. 

I recommend this to all of my sad folks out there. And to my autistic pals, because things seem so much harder for us than others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

carolineberry12's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.25

Wintering is a skill we all have but don't talk about. I'm grateful to have a better understanding of it, thanks to Katherine May.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Cancer