Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

7 reviews

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Eating disorder, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Animal cruelty

eatingbrains's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.5

Well, I was looking for a change of pace and I think I got it.  The topic itself is hard to read about, hard to talk about, etc.

The writing was quite well done, kind of a bit of mixed media with the journal entries, chat logs, transcripts, poetry, and radio show vibes.  The first three victims were well fleshed out and their trauma was ever present and horrifying.  The later ones felt more superficial though I'm not really sure why.  There were also quite a few questions that were raised in the plot that were never answered that made it feel a bit rushed.

I do think this is a good book that has a lot of value in representing sexual assault as a whole and especially in male victims.  However, with all that in mind, I don't feel like I was the intended audience because I don't generally like to read books about rape.  I suppose I didn't expect it to be quite so graphic about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Body horror, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

sjscho95's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Violence

autumnwhite's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Cancer, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

cursivewolf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? N/A

5.0

This book is so powerful. The writing style is so unique, but I loved it. I am not a man, so I cannot attest if this is accurate to male victims of assault. But to me, it brings a voice to something most don’t consider or take seriously. Sexual assault itself is a topic explored so much, but sexual assault on men and the aftermath of such is rarely, if ever, explored. Tamblyn did it diversely, respectfully, and accurately. This book is personal to me. It shows so accurately how sexual assault can take over and affect you afterwards. I wept reading this. Part of me wishes Maude was explored more, just a tiny bit more. But I loved this book, in a weird way. In a therapeutic way. I don’t know if it’s one I could read again, it’s a hard read. But it’s so beautifully and delicately done, but rips the bandaid off all the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Rape, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

mermaidsherbet's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Animal death, Kidnapping, Torture, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Bullying, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking, Sexual content, Cursing, Cancer, Suicide, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Excrement, Vomit, Transphobia, Sexism, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, and Deadnaming

gymbeannz's review against another edition

dark sad 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? No

2.0

 This book, including the author, is everything wrong with the world.

The most disconcerting thing about Any Man is that it is written by a female.
To think that a female would have any clue what it feels like to be a sexually assaulted male is beyond me. And to think, she attempts to do it... what... seven times? Sevenish different men? I can't even remember. And all in first person, or from emotion-based poetry.
Based on this alone, I realised I couldn't take the novel seriously.
And I was correct. It's not made to shed light on the male's point of view.

Uncomfortable as it is to say, while the novel's purpose is to somehow promote feminism, I suspect it also acts as therapeutic revenge porn for the author. That's... concerning to say the least.

Spoiler

Maude is never caught. Her single communication with the press is a four page list of rhetorical questions that would make anyone feel like a guilty slime, even the reader! We learn she's never been abused, she does these things... for fun. My assumption then? She hates men.

I don't mind a character hating men. We get all sorts in this world and their point of view is a rare and interesting one. But I just can't shake the feeling that the author approves of Maude.

Amber Tamblyn turns a book about male rape victims into a "lesson" about female sexual assault. To be honest, the attempt to connect the two is very impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit