Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, by Mackenzi Lee
7 reviews
20sidedbi's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/injury detail, Alcohol, and Homophobia
Moderate: Ableism, Slavery, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Medical content
Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and Cursing
a_bloom's review
- 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
<Spoiler>It also talks about a lot of interesting topics that were seen as taboo (although some of them aren't brought to a whole lot of detail considering the whole book is told from the perspective of a traumatized white teen boy who's an Earls son... But he slowly starts to learn, grow, and mature as he keeps ALMOST DYING.
Spoiler
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Outing, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit
anime917's review
- 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
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Homophobia
crufts's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Our charismatic-scoundrel-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist (Henry "Monty" Montague), an 18-year-old English lord, embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe with sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Naturally, it all goes completely off the rails. In the process Monty matures considerably, and forever changes his standing regarding his father and his travelling companions.
There's so much to enjoy about the book:
- Interesting setting. Assuming that the depiction of the 1700s is accurate, I thought it was fascinating how there was a strong England/France alliance with tourists visiting frequently from both sides, even though everyone was relying on communicating by letters. There were already English banks, embassies, etc in France, which did not intend to become French but rather to remain there as international institutions.
- Good bisexual representation! Monty's crush on Percy is a main plot thread, but his attraction to women isn't dismissed or trivialized. He is not "really" gay, he is really bisexual.
- Fabulous audiobook narration, especially of the French villain's voice.
- A somewhat magical plot device is foreshadowed well in advance and didn't feel like a huge surprise or genre-breaker when it appears.
I did find it a tad contrived that
Spoiler
despite their long-held mutual crush on eachother, Monty and Percy didn't get the truth out between them until the end.The main obstruction is established at the beginning, when Percy asks Monty if them kissing was all just a lark, and a flustered Monty replies "No... yes!". Disappointed and not wanting to just be yet another of Monty's flings, Percy ends the situation.
This was hard to believe because (a) Monty is good at reading people, as seen when he chats up a bank clerk later in the book, and should have been able to piece together Percy's reaction; and (b) Monty wanted to tell Percy about his feelings for years and believed it to be Real Love™, not just a lark.
I think it would've been more believable if, for example:
- When asked if was just a lark, Monty replies something cautious like "I dunno, what do you want it to be?". Percy could then interpret this pessimistically ("He's just humouring me") and the plot could continue as before.
- It could be more obvious (perhaps just to the reader, if not to Monty himself) that Percy ended the situation because he's not a one-night-fling sort of guy and believed that Monty's nature would never change. For example, Percy might ask Monty about his fling with the girl at Versailles and express his opinion that he could never have a one-off relationship like that with someone, even if he loved them
I also found the writing style to be overly flowery at times, with a bit too much detail about specific thoughts or particular actions.
However, I still found The Gentleman's Guide to be an excellent book and would certainly recommend it.
Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Blood, Sexism, Medical content, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racism and Cursing
Minor: Death of parent
Period-typical sexism, homophobia, biphobia, etc due to the 1700s setting.Violence, blood, medical content: Appears during and after action scenes during the book. Also, a main character has epileptic fits.
Domestic abuse, bullying: Against the protagonist from his father, resulting in what is likely PTSD.
Racism: Against one of the later allies in the book.
Death of parent: Suffered by a pair of minor characters.
elleandon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Abandonment, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Racism
b3ck's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Blood, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Vomit
Minor: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
myarae's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Racism