Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Wonderland by Juno Dawson

22 reviews

strawberry_shortcakez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Omg I loved it so much. I read it at my library and had to buy my own personal copy because I loved it so much. Love the trans and lesbian representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

kajoreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

The good:

• The premise and the setting were interesting.
• I enjoyed a lot of the commentary around transness.
• The Alice in Wonderland retelling aspect was kinda fun.

The bad:

• There were some weird jokes and descriptions that came across like microaggressions.
• The mental illness rep was questionable at best.
• I wish the MC’s internalized misogyny was addressed better.
• Overall, the book simply didn’t live up to my expectations. The synopsis had me hoping for an investigative mystery. This wasn’t that.
• The resolution was underwhelming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Deadnaming, Incest, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

oystersauce's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Death, and Incest

thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

This was my first Juno Dawson book! And while I'll definitely check out more of her books, I was underwhelmed by Wonderland. It's very reminiscent of the TV show Euphoria - rich teens doing drugs, having sex, and getting away with criminal activity. So much of this book was our main character, Alice, doing drugs that it watered down the plot and I found myself skimming over her 'trips'. I love unlikeable characters and this book was full of them. Almost all of the characters are spoiled rich teens they kind of blended together, especially the 'flower girls' which I suppose was the point of them. I liked this book, I just wish there was more plot and less focus on the pointless edgy activity. There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, so definitely check them out before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Deadnaming, Suicide, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Incest, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

literarylily's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Cultural appropriation

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

justme12xx'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is literally like falling down a rabbit hole. If you want to be confused but all knowing at the same time I'd recommend this book. It's this amazing, confusing but all together wonderful story. The characters are diverse in race, sexuality and gender. Everything about this was amazing

I would personally recommend checking the content warnings before reading. I didn't and I was quite shocked when some scenes happened because of it. I also hadn't realized it literally says of the back "not suitable for younger readers" and I'm definitely a younger reader. But this book is just amazing please go and read it cause it just so wonderful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Death, and Incest

kasvispupu's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

enmcurrie's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

I personally really enjoyed this book. It was certainly out there, and the plot was quite gritty and dark, dealing with tough themes. I loved the modern spin on the classic, Alice in Wonderland, I thought it was very clever. Dawson’s writing is also great at being able to lighten very dark topics with her humour in an appropriate way. It was very interesting to read about the path of self-destruction that these privileged characters go through as part of society’s (and specifically London’s) elite. The pace is fast, as the plot happens in one weekend. The main character is transgender, which is great as it adds diversity and provides representation. It was so interesting to have a further insight into the life of a trans young woman and how difficult it can be, such as how easy it is for her to be sexualised. 

I think this novel is great, and tackles a lot of important topics. I would recommend to anyone that’s interested!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

alexa_bmn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Deadnaming and Incest