Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

14 reviews

tctimlin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

Short stories set mostly in the small town of Crosby Maine, where Olive Kitteredge is aging.  Sometimes she is the focus of the story, sometimes she just plays a bit role in a story about others in the town.  There are stories about marriage and friendship and small town mores, and parent-child relationships (which I found most gut wrenching as the mother of an only child son who is now an adult living almost on the other side of the continent).  Strout is a beautiful writer and conveys sparingly the deep love Olive has for her students, her husband and son and her struggles to express that love.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

tracey1981's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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

4.75

Elizabeth Strout’s character-development is second to none. And Olive is the deeply human, authentic, older woman character I’ve been hoping for after reading too many books with cartoony older women. There’s a lot here about relationships of all kinds, aging,  life, and death. I look forward to reading the sequel and the rest of Strout’s backlist - I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her so far.

Note: There were times where the author’s descriptions of some characters and/or the characters’ descriptions of one another were quite fatphobic and/or ableist. I do believe those characters would have said or thought those things, especially 16+ years ago when this book is set, but it still detracted enough from this otherwise excellent book to be worth mentioning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Fatphobia

raybudbury's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

MinecraftOOF.mp3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

chanancrompton's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

agnesg's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident

emileod4974's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

bookishbeccahale's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Suicidal thoughts

imds's review against another edition

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Antisemitism and Islamophobia

miss_fish's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief