Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Toda a Luz que Não Podemos Ver by Anthony Doerr

18 reviews

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I didn’t dislike reading it— I enjoyed the character development and world-building, but the fact that it was all out of order and time-jumpy was a complete and horrible mess and was extremely frustrating to try and keep track of what was going on at any given moment. Also I HATE knowing the end/climax of a book at the beginning, so that ruined it too.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

hmbrokaw's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

I’m not sure how much this book sticks with me considering this was my second read and I couldn’t remember anything from the first read. But it was quite good

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Rape, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

shaleen64's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is beautifully written with two characters at its centre. Both lovable in their own way, both forced towards different goals but ultimately brought together by a sense of doing what is right.

The book makes you view the Second World War in a different light without becoming a history text book. There’s heartbreak, anger, horror and despair but hope and love throughout.

If you loved the Book Thief, or anything similar, this should be your next read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Slavery, and Torture

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Deportation

carol16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

It's just so genuinely sad that I don't know what to do with myself 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Rape

belleden's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

The

pointless rape chapter

is why I don’t read books written by men. 🙄 If you want to win a Pulitzer Prize, all you have to do is be a man and write a book about WWII, apparently.

I strongly disliked the way the framing device of a shifting timeline was used. The dates were sometimes clearly labeled, but often not, and I had to go back and reread several times to understand where we were in the story. I even felt that the opening chapters of the book were a spoiler and I think it would have worked much better chronologically.
Marie-Laure and her family were extremely lovable and the main reason why I kept reading.  Marie-Laure felt so real and I had a deep desire to protect her the entire time I was reading. The Sea of Flames storyline was fascinating and kept me wondering until the end.
I appreciate how this book handles trauma and the realities of war.

Not everyone gets a happy ending. Sometimes bad things happen to good people

  and I think historical fiction that ignores that fact is completely unrealistic.
This book was recommended for me for the Red TV prompt of the Taylor Swift reading challenge - "a book over 450 pages that will break your heart".

Frederick and his mother

well and truly broke my heart.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Torture, Antisemitism, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

mdwsn27's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Grief, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Death of parent

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

Another book club read, and I'm glad I was put onto this one, as I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with it. This is a beautifully woven tale of .. uhm, nerds in World War II.

Werner is a snow-haired German lad who was orphanned by the mines of the Reich. As a curious child he develops himself into an electrical engineer who specializes in fixing radios, and is noticed by a German general who forwards him for advancement in an elite military school.
Marie-Laure is the daughter of keymaster of the French museum. She develops cataracts and goes blind as a child, and her father crates a scale model of her neighbourhood as a tactile map for her to learn her way around.
When the war starts, Marie-Laure and her father flee to her uncle's house, and Werner is a radio engineer for Hitler's army.

This story is told with deep emotional resonance, and using all sorts of literary quirks that focus on themes of light and darkness, sounds, sensation, fear and bravery, morality, logic and puzzles, knowing and learning, art and music, the love of nature, and of people. I love the descriptions of things like disappearing in fog– that it's about vanishing into whiteness rather than shadows.  The descriptions are visceral and evocative as well as clever.

This is a story of survival, of war, of fear and bloodshed, and it doesn't pull its punches. It certainly answers, in a humane way, questions about how people can do inhuman things in war, and the toll it can take on families.

I found the going slow, and occasionally tense, but also full of whimsy and beauty in contrast.
Well worth the read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

elizapease's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Great book. Very sad, but Anthony Doerr does a great job of tying in an indomitable human spirit and a theme of hope throughout all of his books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Grief, and War

Moderate: Rape and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

patsshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Pedophilia, Rape, Slavery, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis