Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Mein Jahr der Ruhe und Entspannung by Anke Caroline Burger, Ottessa Moshfegh

461 reviews

hanamany's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion

This book was painstakingly slow. It didn't invoke much in me even though the theme had great potential to be extremely provoking. While the ending felt somewhat inspirational, the whole thing felt dull and mundane. Maybe that's what the author intended, but it was simply too boring

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

4.0

This was a grueling read with a detestable main character and disgusting events. I could barely put it down. I found it well written, stuffed (over-stuffed?) with references and connections to other works so the themes were always exploding outwards in many directions. Honestly not sure how sincerely I should take

the inner peace at the end as a sign of redemption

but I found it to be pretty satisfactory. I feel like this demands a reread but I'll have to muster up some major fortitude before I can attempt it. I read the back 2/3 in quarantine which definitely contributed to the atmosphere, Would recommend if you have COVID. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape and Abortion

joooos's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Abortion, and Pregnancy

caljpg's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I read this last year and it was interesting at first. It was so bad that I couldn’t look away. Then it got repetitive. By the end, I felt like there was no point to the book. I don’t understand why people like it so much. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Suicide

catherinerowland's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

juliarenae's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

to be honest, I will never understand the hype. It was OK but nothing I would rave about. Also, the main character pissed me off for way too long to find her anything other than conceited and judgmental. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

natlwlyn's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i did not expect myself to like this book. after all, this book is rated as a 3 star average. the story is narrated by an unreliable narrator that came off as a detached privileged white woman. the character is meant to be written to be unlikable. to put it simply, she wants to sleep for a long period of time to be born as a new person. the story narrates her thoughts; her roller coaster of emotions, her way of handling grief, her past, her thoughts, her relationships. this book might not be everyone's cup of tea and i can see why some people rated the book poorly. but to me, personally, this book is worth the read because the narrations are really detailed, making you taste the character's experience 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Abortion

elfsara's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent

melitorian's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

3.75

Just finished the book, and the word that comes to mind is catharsis. I kept wondering where this was all going — did I need to go through reading all of this to get to "the point?" Maybe not. But, am I glad at where we arrived after getting there? Definitely.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit

poucepooffy's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Got me out of my reading slump, started to read on a sunny day outside and continued to read all through the night. Very intriguing. Read like a train. 

I’ve heard people say this book was depressing, which I understand, but I did not feel sad after reading it. Really appreciated the honesty! 

Guess you either love it or hate it, I loved it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Didn’t like that by connecting the timeline and the fact that Reva’s character got promoted to work at WTC, I already knew she would die in the end. Or maybe this was on purpose, because it made me automatically care more about her character which is fucked up in the same way as the book is.