Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

15 reviews

filmnoirz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

this covers so many topics and issues prevalent in jamaican culture- and hit me and my mommy issues right in the gut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism

klawrence1206's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

The content was interesting and very thought provoking. The author has a beautiful style to her writing. But for me, parts were disjointed and jumped around between places and points in time. Her editors did an injustice to this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Hate crime, Death of parent, Self harm, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Classism, Sexual content, Rape, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Child death

gidget_selby's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

on_a_journey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this novel. It was a great depiction of how migrating to another country is different for everyone and also how the struggles are similar for people who may have good or decent standing in their previous countries cross over the ocean and just have to make a way possible. Also the quote that depicts this exploration is, the grass is always greener on the other side. The stories presented in this book about the various people that migrated (though the main story is about Patsy) was well thought out. I enjoyed the setting of the times in both Jamaica and America, it was a walk back in recent history. However, I struggled with the child abandonment portion of the story because though Patsy had her reasons I still struggled with understanding why she didn't try to contact Tru for so many years. Also, to make it worse someone had to come into her life to give her a nudge to face her fear and contact her only child. I do agree with previous reviewers that the ending seemed very rushed and I would like to see more about Patsy and Tru rekindling their relationship and not just hear the letter that was written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Grief

juliastern__'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Bullying, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Abortion

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Evocative, but haunting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Racism, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Abandonment, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Classism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Outing, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, Vomit, Excrement, Abortion, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Colorism, Gentrification

moll_g's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a challenging book that tackles a lot of heavy issues and made me feel a lot of things. I really enjoyed it overall but it can be very intense in parts. The characterisation and character development was very well done and I think that it being from two different perspectives worked really well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Police brutality, Alcoholism, Medical content, Murder, and Vomit

ajdotcom's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The emotions in this book really caught me off-guard. Taking place over 10+ years, it's a complicated and nuanced story of motherhood, the immigrant experience and queerness, told from the third-person points of view of Patsy, a Jamaican woman living in New York, and Tru, her daughter who she left in Jamaica. It took me a while to get into- although I think that says more about my being used to being catered to as a white reader from the Global North than it does about Dennis-Benn's writing- but the second half was absolutely breathtaking. From the 50% mark, I finished it in four days. I nearly cried near the end, and I couldn't put it down in my final reading session. I highly recommend- and I especially recommend sticking with it if you're finding it hard to get into at the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault

The triggering content ramps up in the second half, with

flashbacks to child sexual abuse and a miscarriage, and a graphic suicide attempt.

The first half contains some descriptions of racism and depression.

lucyf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Classism, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Infertility, and Child abuse

keatynbergsten's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt