Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

92 reviews

saliwali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

I made it 30 minutes into this book last spring and stopped because, trigger warning,

it starts with suicide because someone is losing everything and I was afraid it would push me over the edge.

But the last category on my 2023 reading challenge is "a book you started but didn't finish," So I gave it a another shot this week. I wish so much that I had made it to minute 36 last spring, which is oddly the whole point of this unbelievably beautiful and hopeful book. Spoiler alert: she thrives.

sparrowhearted's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

Have not read a book this fast in a while. Did not take notes while reading so I'm not sure about details I liked or did not like, but I don't feel like it really hit that arbitrary four-star rating to me.
Would recommend it if I know the person I'm recommending it to would already be interested in that sort of story, but I'm not sure I'd claim it's a must-read in general.
 
- Protagonist Nora's experiences do shape her in relatively believable ways for most of the part since they work with what's already present in her, rather than provoke a complete 180. Her development sometimes feels a little heavy-handed, but never downright forced. This might be a personal problem but I'm still not sure, however, if by the end of the story I had a proper sense for who Nora is? 
A lot of her personality traits felt relatable but in a way she read a bit like a horoscope, hitting a lot of points that felt like she was developed in a way that was supposed to make her relatable to the widest audience possible. The fact that we never witness much of the alternate Noras' personalities only made that more glaring to me.

- The book is fairly fast-paced once you get into the eponymous Midnight Library and my short attention span appreciated that, but it also meant that a lot of things were shown on a surface level.

-The more I think about it, the more I think my biggest gripe is how the fast pace takes some of the impact of its story? In many cases I didn't feel like I stayed long enough with the events to feel much more than what the book was telling me to, and I'm not sure I liked that.

- The cast is, from what I can tell, largely white but there is some diversity in regards to social backgrounds and sexuality. That being said, none of these marginalized identities are examined much and as such, it feels like all of these factors are more passing matters rather than important aspects of the characters and story.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Will not comment on original's writing style, since I read a translation and don't have anything to compare it to. The translation had a good flow, felt natural and wasn't complicated to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse

mattyvreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book was not for me, but I understand it’s appeal and I do think that it is well written. I thought that, overall, the story was predictable and the message was heavy-handed. It is a fun premise that feels like it’s been explored many times before…

I liked the concept of the Midnight Library itself. That was very intriguing. 

As I write this, I don’t know if I had a definitive problem with the story or if I just didn’t care for the book. There was something about the way in which the depiction of suicide and its aftermath gave me pause. I don’t know if I can put that into words. 

At the end of the day, it was not my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Emotional abuse

reginacattus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

A lesson in finding hope within despair, and also embracing the many worlds theory in physics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Homophobia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Cancer

melliebean28's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse and Death of parent

jazmyn1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I just truly think that this was a little cringy. Like root Nora was SO cringey, but I wonder if that’s just how people look at people with depression. I wonder if people would look at me like that. I wonder if just in general no one should ever post suicide letters online. Mostly though I just love all the choices she had. Also great time travel rules very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

nirudark's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse

ladyofphoenixx's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

melinum's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I wasn’t expecting to read a book I’d rate so highly after only getting through the first 30 pages. I loved the style, the narration, and the poignant way of diving into one life and zooming out of it. It reminded me of five people you meet in heaven. I love this concept and was positively surprised at how well this was done. 

That aside, there were many instances where I related strongly with Nora. “Expectations” being a particular passage inside the book that struck a chord with many, and I am no exception. Please go into this book with no expectations. I’ve picked it up solely because I saw a friend (hi, Léonie) reading it and decided to give it a try as well. I went into it blind, and that was the best choice I could’ve made in order to be able to appreciate the situations detailed inside the rather short chapters. (The short, yet meaningful chapters are the best that modern literature has to offer, lemme tell ya.) 

Anyways, 10/10 recommend! 

Heed the TW: suicide, hinted self-harm, mentioned sexual harrassment, toxic relationship, mentioned drug and alcohol abuse. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

meg_elyse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Alcohol, Car accident, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Stalking, and Vomit