Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Där kräftorna sjunger by Delia Owens

67 reviews

katlinstirling_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Amazing read, my heart was breaking for Kya through most of this read and I couldn’t stop the tears. Compelling and beautifully written I adore this book. 5 STARS!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

jodar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

The novel was an enjoyable and easy read. The MC, Kya, is engaging, albeit a bit unbelievable in terms of practical plausibility and psychology. The ending had a melodramatic twist to resolve the mystery – for a while before that I had up to four characters I had suspicions about. At least I was right about one of them!

The novel focuses quite a bit on the beauty of the natural world, which weaves in well with the plot line. I thought the pacing of the plot was good, though more use of foreshadowing would have worked more powerfully. Also, the musings by the MC on evolutionary biology and human behaviour struck me as quite reductionist, and seemed to be a way of explaining away the characters’ actions without psychological depth or ambiguity. The interweaved poetry occasionally worked well, but more often felt a bit jarring.

Overall, if you don’t expect too much, it is a great “airport read”.

CW: Extramarital sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

yerfillag's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The protagonist and setting draws you in from the very beginning and with short chapters it feels like a quick read. Although the story jumps back and forth between two different time periods it never felt confusing and got more and more suspensful when they started to connect. I had read somewhere that the author is a zoologist which is very apparent as a lot of the book focuses on describing the wildlife and fauna but it wasn't distracting but instead invited you into the point of view of the main character. While the overall pace felt rather slow it definitely picked up towards the end and while I was worried of being left with many questions, the last handful of pages answered a lot of them and left me just sitting in silence for a moment once I had finished the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

britbreeze's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

misterbugman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Murder, and Abandonment

lucykae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

cnannery19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

hcop's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying

wogslandwriter's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I did not know what to expect from this book when I started it. Honestly, it was beyond my expectations from the very beginning and it just kept going. I did not know how it was going to end.

I was pretty sure Kaya wouldn't go to jail, but I honestly did think that she had killed Tate. It made the most logical sense, but it just didn't seem like she had done it. It was definitely a surprise to have that twist at the end, but it all makes sense and it brings a sense of mildly juvenile wonder which I think really matches Kaya's personality because she was neglected for so long and stayed agoraphobic for her who life.

I laughed and cried reading this and it may be one of the best literary novels I have ever read. I am definitely interested in more books like this, with a focus on ecology and personhood. It is extremely good and I highly recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Infertility, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Car accident, and War

Kaya, the main character of this book is subject to extreme childhood neglect from and absent mother and alcoholic father. The book focuses on her abandonment and loneliness as it follows her story.

As a teenager she has a relationship with an older boy who is technically an adult for the later part of their relationship. As a young adult, she has a relationship with an emotionally manipulative young man where he is cheating on her and lying to her regularly. After breaking it off with him, he later chases her down and attempts to rape her. She defends herself and is able to escape him.

There are also graphic flashbacks to her father beating her mother and siblings and discussion of how her town is segregated with black people living in "colored town" separate from the white people. There is mild discussion of the racism of the era, but mostly it is simply treated as matter of fact as it is viewed through the eyes of a child.

sorkka's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad

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

4.5

This book started off so slowly and boring but I am glad I persisted. The book follows the childhood and transition into adulthood of Kya,

who grew up in poverty all alone

. A local

murder

suddenly changes the tone of a book into fast paced page turner.  Throughout the book there are beautiful descriptions of the wildlife and nature of the marsh as well as explorations of the human condition and loneliness. I liked the it overall. But I would have preferred it to be less slow at the beginning and less rushed at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Mental illness and Dementia

Nature, abandonment and classism are the most significant themes of the book.

The side character Jumpy is abused with racial slurs. The main character Kya experiences a lot of prejudice, predominantly classism. The main character is a victim of sexual assault from a toxic relationship. The home life of the central character Kya has domestic violence, child abuse and emotional abuse. A minor character has a breakdown and develops dementia.