Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

11 reviews

maceydowns's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.25

upon finishing I immediately had to go back and read the beginning again. Such a unique read that I’m sure you’d get more from on every reread 🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and War

traa's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

kys831's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm

headachesince03's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and War

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Xenophobia, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

readerette's review against another edition

I loved Gingerbread in all its quirky glory, but White is for Witching held no charm for me. None of the characters have any warmth, and though they are interesting, I have no investment in the story or their lives because they just seem detached from anything meaningful or good. I have a feeling the second half of the book would remedy some of that but not enough faith or energy to find out. I'm also not impressed that one of the only Black characters to get close to the main character is disturbingly close to the Magic Negro stereotype.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sallywardlaw's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Stalking

amyg414d2's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm

falcc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

Firstly I should say that while I did not enjoy this book, the author is clearly a talented writer and I don't want to discourage anyone from her other work. However, White is for Witching is a slog.

The characters in this book - apart from Ore and Sade, who are genuinely great and trying their best - are extremely unpleasant people that it's hard to spend time with. The story drags on until the Ore portions in the second half of the book, and that story is about gradually degrading any sympathy you might initially have for the other characters. Most of the real plot happens in the last 50 pages or so and feels both rushed and unfinished. I spent large portions of my reading experience just inwardly shouting for characters to TALK TO EACH OTHER about what they're feeling and left disappointed and frustrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Incest

lizsmartie13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Helen Oyeyemi is a fascinating writer. I don’t know that I fully “get” this book, and it was so slow going at first I wasn’t sure what would keep me going, but once Miranda got to Cambridge I was extremely invested. The “haunted house” (and I use big quotes there because that’s such a simplification of what is going on) was so terrifying and thrilling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia