Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

9 reviews

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

peyberry's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I was not expecting this book to have such complex themes! I really enjoyed the characters and joining them on their journeys of self-discovery. The tiny bit of magic was fun and brings out the type of imagination one often has as a child. This is a light and easy read but does have dark topics throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and War

kaylokay_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.0

Absolutely adored this. This brought me back to the feelings I felt during The Echo of Old Books and I loved it. The story felt a bit overly simple at times but was definitely able to reach me emotionally

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

fancyjess_party's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Deportation

griffl's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War

theladyjsays's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

lochnessvhs's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

3.0

Oh dear...perhaps this would be easiest in bullet form:

• I adored Opaline's story. It was the standout. Had the entire book been Opaline's story and thoroughly fleshed out, this may have been a 4-star read.
• Henry was the dullest, flattest, most useless character.
• Henry and Martha did not seem to have any chemistry whatsoever. It was only in the moments where one of them are thinking "oh s/he's perfect!" that anything came across, and it felt like we were being reminded they were supposed to be together. 
• The magical realism of the story was shoe-horned in and so lightly defined that it seemed to be pointless.
• There are 3 books in this book. One is possibly great (Opaline), one is okay (Martha and her husband and how she grows as a person) and one terrible (Henry and Martha and the magic bookshop).
• Plot holes make my head hurt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and War

saskiajva's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Before you start this book, definitely read the trigger warnings. Based on the summary and the tagline “the most charming and uplifting novel of 2023”, i was expecting a cozy story about a magic bookshop that filled you with warmth, hope, and childlike wonder. This book was nothing like that. Instead, it is 431 pages of three different people experiencing and processing horrific and very real-world traumas. The actual bookshop is much more the background setting of their lives, and not at all integral to the plot in my opinion, which i thought was a bummer. this book could’ve easily been set in a realistic world without the bookshop and it would change very little. 

Ultimately the book was fairly captivating and i did read it to the end, but i don’t think i would’ve chosen this had i known what it was actually about. Or at  the very least i definitely would have been more mindful about reading this while in a good headspace. The history was pretty cool, it’s clear the author did a ton of research and there are so many historical Easter eggs interwoven 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death and War

Minor: Suicide and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sea_tea_books's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense

4.0

"A good story always begins with tea."

This story was more complicated than I had been expecting. There were cozy, hygge moments mingled with a darker, more emotionally heavy undercurrent throughout the story. The consequences of generational trauma are far-reaching.

Henry was funny in an unintentional yet realistic way, which made him charming. His humor helped to lighten some of the darkness in this book. 

Side note: Why did Madame Bowden say a curious incident occurred "in the eighties" but Martha says "in the sixties" when she retells the story?

4 ⭐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting