Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

かがみの孤城 by 辻村深月, Mizuki Tsujimura

77 reviews

drsa's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Dysphoria

christinaanna's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Child death

Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

luckykosmos's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Focusing on the lack of emotional support for bullied children in Japan, the mystery and magic of the castle fades into the background as the children come to life around one another. The final act ramps up significantly from the rest of the book, but not in a way that feels inappropriate, just as a warning. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-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

3.0

I mean...I understand the appeal and recognize that I am not the target audience for this book. It was feel-good, immersive, and mysterious. However, I had a hard time looking past the glaring plot holes that were conveniently ignored to drag out the big reveals.

You're telling me that after being together for a year, the topic of favorite shows, popular musicians, or even everyday technology never came up? No one noticed that each others' fashion styles were completely different or outdated? No one ever talked about current events?

One personal gripe I have with specifically the audiobook is that if the localizer/translator decides to write in a dialect (in this case, British English), I think it's best to have an audiobook narrator who also speaks in that dialect. I found a lot of the British slang to sound really awkward and stilted when being read by an American.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Terminal illness

my_weird_bookish_heart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

imchelsi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Grief

tofuwater's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

As a kid who began refusing school around the same age as Kokoro, I found myself reflected in her story very often. Tsujimura’s writing had me feeling spots of my soul I didn’t realize were still tender. 

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a masterful portrayal of many different kinds of childhood and adolescent mental illness and the many ways adults can both further harm and alternately support their children through them. I loved everything about this book. Easily a new top favorite of all time for me. 

And also if you ever wanted to know exactly what it was like to live in my head specifically in 2006, this is it.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

chasinggrace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

It’s difficult for me to rate this book, because for the entirety of it I was (and still am) in some sort of a reading slump. So how I feel about the book might also reflect how disengaged I am from reading right now. 

However, I want to say that this book is definitely YA - something that middle and high schoolers could and should read. Therefore, I didn’t find myself resonating with many of the characters. In addition, you don’t find out a character’s full story until the last 5% of the book, and feel quite disconnected from each of the seven children throughout the story. 

I will say, I enjoyed how the novel concluded. I liked the connection to the fairytale, even if the story isn’t one that I recognize. I also LOVED the connection to Rion’s sister Mio, and I LOVED how Aki became the Free School teacher. Those two points really improved my experience with the book.

I found that I had to force myself to pick up the book, because it was so slow paced. And even though I liked the ending, I was rushing through it just to finish the novel. I’m simply not the target audience for this story and I struggle with how to rate it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

dexkit10's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, and Suicide attempt