Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

かがみの孤城 by 辻村深月, Mizuki Tsujimura

68 reviews

moonadjacent's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Found family from a bunch of outcasts has got to be one of my favourite tropes in fiction. The heartfelt sincerity with which the kids come to regard each other is so touching to witness evolve. 

I cried for Rion. It was so heartbreaking for him to lose the chance to wish for his sister to come back home.

My only criticism would be that as much as I loved getting to know each character's backstory, the lead up to each discovery became quite formulaic.

Kokoro runs, touches X, views memory, vows to save friend, rinse, repeat. Sort of like a video game, which, meta!

Apart from that small section, I did enjoy the writing style and pace. 

But I must admit I was quite shocked at how the parents didn't just force the kids to go to school to be honest. Personally, the idea that a child could just not go to school for a year was more fantastical

than being eaten by a wolf in a castle accessible by mirror.

Great story though, really enjoyed how all the puzzle pieces came to fit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

laurenvoice's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Lonely Castle in the Mirror had a slow start, but the whole story came together in the final chapter. This story was quite sad, but hopeful at the same time. It is quite hard to put my thoughts into words to describe how I feel after reading this book; however, I know it will stay with me for a long time. I hope Kokoro and her friends will all meet again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Grief

thesvnthsense's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death

shellbell_04's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death

writteninmagic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Suicide, and Blood

blacksphinx's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent

Misogynistic slurs

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

For a good portion of this book, I was planning on rating it 3.75, but the last 100 pages turned it around. It wasn't until the ending of the book that I truly realized how deeply I cared about these characters. For most of the book, we don't know much about the outside lives of the children other than Kokoro. Since the focus is on their growing bond together despite their circumstances, and these circumstances contribute to each character's desire to use the castle as an escape and sanctuary, this makes sense. It also makes sense to add to the mystery of the book as well. I typically would prefer the protagonist slowly get to know each character's stories throughout the book, rather than all at once (throughout the book we get to know hints of their outside lives, but the focus is mainly on knowing their personalities and growing their relationships with each other so they can be there for each other), but I didn't mind how this was done at all (though I will admit, I didn't feel overly attached to the characters until a little before I had to say goodbye to them). It definitely packed a punch and had me in tears (particularly Rion's story, which continually made me cry). Masamune reminded me of Neo from I Fell in Love with Hope. Each character came from different circumstances, and I liked how each of them were written. The fact that the search for the key to get the wish wasn't a main focus for a majority of the book didn't bother me too much, but when it became a crucial part of the story in the last third of the book, it held me tight in its grip. Since I like character-centered stories, I liked how the children really came together to form a found family, thus the lack of focus on the hunt for the key didn't bother me much. There are 3 main twists in the story:

(1) the children are all students at the same school, but not at the same time (when they tried to meet up, so I was able to guess they were from different times, rather than the parallel worlds they assumed; (2) the relevance of the story "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats", rather than "Little Red Riding Hood" (I didn't know the former story, but because of the number of children and the Wolf Queen, I was able question whether there was a connection between the two as soon as the children met for the first time); (3) the Wolf Queen is Rion's dead older sister (I was able to somewhat hypothesize this once Aki was saved and the other children "came back")

. I really liked how the mysteries unfolded, and upon a reread, I think will have a lot of fun finding more of the clues left to solve them. The ending of the story simultaneously broke my heart and healed it.

The fact that Aki was Ms. Kitajima the entire time made me so happy that I couldn't stop crying. Plus, the fact that the other children saving her in the castle became a motivation (even though it was just a phantom memory) for her to want to help others??? Absolutely beautiful!

The writing style is quite simple, and at times the translation does leave a few holes in possible double meanings and clues, but, in regards to the simplicity of the style, since the narrator for the majority of the time is a 12 year old, it makes sense. I only wonder if the style is more lyrical and whimsical in Japanese. Overall, this was such a melancholy book for a majority of the time, but held such a hopeful message (

the fact that Kokoro's mother was so supportive is just one example other than the found family (the fact that she was so supportive made me so happy)

). It touched my heart, and I will be holding the characters close to me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

196books's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

77mimi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

extremely tender tale of adolescence and friendship, the difficulties of growing up and discovering the person you are or want to be

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death

emjbarnes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

This took me a long time to get into, but by the time I got the first real plot twists, I was really attached to the characters. The ending was a huge surprise and is well worth the wait.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide