Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Wych Elm by Tana French

11 reviews

hdunscombe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, and Dysphoria

rae69's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

honestly this book felt like watching multiple cars crash into each other but you are forced to look anyway 

and I know it's not true but books like this kinda feel like they are made for people who have nothing else to worry about 

but I also read this feeling not that great anyway

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness

birdsandships's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

markandcover's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

te_ss_i's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

cfell's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Self harm

zalouis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence

ellipalmer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It's hard to say much about what I liked about The Witch Elm without venturing into topics that feel like spoilers. It took about 150 pages to get to the meat of the story, which felt like a long time. If it were another author who I didn't know I might have felt annoyed, but in my experience Tana French knows what she's doing. While I still feel like the first 1/3 dragged a bit, pushing through definitely paid off. The writing is top knotch, French a master of plot and psychologically complex character development. I watched an interview with her where she said that she's less interested in "who did it" than "who the detective is" and the impact of the mystery/story on the person trying to work their way through it and find the truth. I think that's what makes her stories so good. You want to know who did it, but the payoff is deeper and longer lasting because solving the mystery doesn't put the world back in order. The detective is forever changed and solving the case doesn't bring the satisfaction and closure they hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

rileyreadsagain's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

yo_tdo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment