Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Chanson douce by Leïla Slimani

28 reviews

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Rape, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

staceyinthesticks's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Medical content, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol

sare1125's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Minor: Mental illness

lexlad's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. From the beginning, very unexpected and pulled me right in. The way the author describes the environment and characters is so visceral. 

It's an intense book that probably isn't for everyone as it does include child abuse and mental health issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse and Mental illness

debitoni's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism

meliemelo's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.25

Après un premier chapitre qui tape fort, une étude de personnages nuancée qui prend son temps sans occulter le drame vers lequel on sait qu'on s'avance. J'ai trouvé la plume de Leïla Slimani intéressante et me suis volontiers laissée happer par le texte, même sans éprouver de grande sympathie pour les personnages. Cela m'a donné envie de lire davantage de romans francophones récents !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content

frances_frances'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Mental illness

honeymoan's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

3.75

you really wouldn’t expect anything that has happened in this book. the foreshadowing is brilliantly done and even if you can kind of guess what could happen, you’d never expect it to be as cruel as it was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

weelasswithabook'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

4.0

CW child murder, racism, domestic abuse, child neglect, parental abandonment, attempted suicide

🌟 Domestic thriller
🌟 Translated work
🌈 Morrocan-French author

I don't even know what to say, but that was wild. 

Written in third person omniscient, The Nanny allows us to truly view the spiral that Louise ends up in, leading her to the crime she has commited, and the varying moments where it could have been prevented. 

There are such subtle point throughout the course of the book which are huge red flags that only us as observers can see, such as the hide and seek game, which made me so uncomfortable, even though it could be viewed as fairly irrelevant. Maybe it's because we knew how the story would unfold, maybe it's parental instinct, but I was uncomfy.

While the book is focused mainly on Louise's experiences, the touches on the kids parents, outside characters, people from Louise's past, we're able to form a fully rounded perception of Louise herself and it's chilling to watch it unfold when you know exactly the point that we end up at.

The prose was wonderful,  and I appreciated how it was written, although there are many other books with the same techniques I haven't liked, Leila Slimani seems to have hit the nail on the head and made it truly work for me. 

My only gripe is how ambiguous the ending was. I know some people love ambiguous endings (such as The Boy Who Loved Tom Gordon, where I loved the book but the ending made me scream into a pillow), but the frustration I feel is always to the extreme. This is a me problem, not an author problem, I just personally need a story fully rounded off and a resolution.

All in all this was extremely enjoyable and I was kept on the edge of my seat even though I knew exactly what was coming. I can definitely see why the author won an award for this. It felt like a unique telling of a common trope and I'm glad I gave it a chance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying and Misogyny

schorlett's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Pregnancy