Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

6 reviews

betsyhokamp's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Slavery, and War

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Slavery, War, Violence, Mental illness, and Child death

mysterymom46's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Infertility, Slavery, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, and War

Minor: Ableism and Sexual violence

Spoiler

several mentions of mobs and rioting; bigamy

amykwrites's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Classism, and Blood

rachel_from_avid_bookshop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The present-day gun violence we are witnessing in the USA motivated Karen Joy Fowler to write the extraordinary book Booth. She cleverly focuses on the entire Booth family instead of just John Wilkes Booth, as they were a huge part of American society due to their theater appearances in the 19th century. The Booths are a distraught family with a legacy of depression and alcoholism mixing with opposing loyalties regarding the Civil War. This results in dysfunction and ultimately the assassination of Lincoln. This is a captivating historical fiction that has modern-day implications if one chooses to see the connections.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness

ghoulscoutcamp's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Grief, Alcoholism, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, War, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

sjanke2's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

 I'm so enjoying fiction's latest focus on the families surrounding history's (in)famous men: William Shakespeare's wife in Hamnet, Johannes Kepler's mom in Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch, and now John Wilkes Booth's siblings.

Between my fondness for this literary structure and my obsession with Abe Lincoln (we share a bday), I should have loved this book. My high expectations for this novel dwindled over its ~500 pages as I read repeatedly about the Booth brothers' theatrical success, their drinking, and their silly life-threatening travels. I had to remind myself that this is not a novel about John Wilkes Booth; it's about his family. But his family was melodramatic and frankly put me to sleep on many occasions. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Infidelity, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and War