Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Recursion by Blake Crouch

19 reviews

mothercoconuts's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

OMGGG 😍 I honestly struggled to get into it for the first third and was really focusing on wrapping my brain around all the memory/time stuff but the last 2/3 oh my lord it was absolutely unputdownable!! Read pages 102-329 without stopping. 
So original, well-written, loved the explanation of the reasoning/science behind the ideas, loved the end, loved Helena and Barry omg, and all the wildly horrific things in between lol I didn’t expect it to be so heavy or to make me feel all the feels at every turn!! LOVED. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt

dannythestreet's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Murder, and War

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

readerk8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense 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

5.0

Wow! Amazing story! I really enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook version. After a certain point I didn’t want to stop listening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

kabrahams's review against another edition

Suicide, scary virus that wipes memories, child death, just overall a depressing beginning 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death

aerlevsedi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This story was very interesting, and not something I would normally read. My thoughts on what was happening in the book shifted so many times in the beginning and I was still surprised when we figure out the mystery behind Recursion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Terminal illness and Car accident

nipsnpiss's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Dementia, Death of parent, and War

markandcover's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Mass/school shootings

littlelort's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

Crouch reached in my chest, grabbed my heart, played with it, and tore it out of me. I thank him for the experience.

This is not a story I would ordinarily read. What hooked me in was the inclusion of memories and reality twisting in on itself, which was all I knew of. It took me a while to realize I was reading about tropes I generally disliked. Afterward, I found I didn't care. The story was that good. Saying what those tropes are will spoil the book, however.

When I finished Recursion, I couldn't believe it was only 327-pages long. There are arcs in the book, going from Book One to Book Five, with breaks in between each arc. The method of splitting up chapters was annoying when I needed to refer to previous chapters, but only because Kindle didn't list the sub-chapters. Aside that, it made total sense to me as I read. I could swear I read a series of books, not just one. 327 pages didn't seem nearly enough time to get me this attached to the characters while throwing so much information to me. I'm surprised I even managed to understand such complicated information. Blake Crouch was very good at showing the complexity of the science in fiction, while making it sound believable and understandable to a layman. I truly felt how much research and care he put into the story.

Another compliment to his writing: he is amazing at describing senses and emotions, something necessary to make the reader believe the story. His descriptions of the five senses surprised me by noting experiences I don't even notice in my own life. I wouldn't even think to include it in my writings. When he described grief, it made me want to cry. When he described happiness, my heart ached. I'm a fan of philosophy, and there's tons of it here. The end had me reflecting on what I value in life, how I treat my relationships, and my view of the world overall. Plenty of conversational topics for my therapist, haha.

Part of me did find myself frustrated by the end, believing the main characters had made strange and annoying decisions... until I realized that, if put in their position, my grasp on logic would have long since been shattered. If anything, they stayed extremely intelligent and resilient considering the situation they've been through and were in.

By the way, the audiobook is amazing. Great narrators who breathed extra life into already lively characters.

Spoiler warning for small details I've noticed:
 

"Recursive" was used about two times in the book, iirc. I'm very surprised that the snake eating its tail, or the ouroboros, was not mentioned at all. If it was, I missed it. I actually thought the front of the book was an ouroboros until I realized it was an infinite figure 8 with a maze within.

Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but I liked that Helena's middle name is Gray. Just like dead memories.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault