Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

10 reviews

littlemelly's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.25

going into this book, I expected a comical story about an atheist lesbian who starts working at a church by a ridiculous accident. and while those parts of the synopsis are true, I was unpleasantly surprised by the framing of anxiety disorders in the text. proceed with caution: the book may be triggering for someone who isn't prepared to dissect their mind under a microscope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Grief, Death, Terminal illness, and Suicide

Minor: Gaslighting

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

The book started off really strong but, as I went on reading, it lost me a bit. Maybe it's because we are firmly into the main character's headspace and I felt like it became a bit repetitive. Also, the final section 

Spoiler

with the police investigation and Gilda's questioning and brief detention

felt to me a bit over-the-top, it went on and on and then was solved in the blink of an eye. The ending itself wasn't so bad 

Spoiler

I admit that I teared up a bit when Gilda's left those voicemail messages

but it was still quite abrupt and an awful lot was left unaddressed. 

I appreciated the hard-hitting representation of mental illness, just make sure to check the content warnings and look after your own mental well-being.  
I also quite liked the humour and, as a raised-Catholic-turned-atheist, I cackled many times whenever Gilda pondered over bizarre Catholic rituals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Mental illness, and Homophobia

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Blood, Suicide, Murder, Grief, Car accident, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Confinement, Bullying, Outing, Animal death, Body horror, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Self harm, Stalking, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Dysphoria, and Drug abuse

skudiklier's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Okay I'm actually obsessed with this book. Wow.

I have anxiety and I related to Gilda a lot while reading it (though she struggles with it way more than I do, and I have a much easier time asking for help). I loved the way this was written, in genuinely every way that could be interpreted. I'm amazed by how relatable and funny this was while also being so dark and existential. I was so drawn in and cared so much about what was going to happen to everyone involved.

Honestly I have absolutely zero complaints about this book. I mean...I wish maybe we'd gotten a glimpse of Eli at the end to see what happened there? But I understand why the author may have wanted to leave some things open-ended, and I'm satisfied with what we did get to see at the end. I can't recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Car accident, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Outing, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Body horror, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Sexism, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Blood, Bullying, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Child death, Dementia, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Rape, Cancer, and Mass/school shootings

major cw for dissociation, depression, and anxiety

melliedm's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-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

5.0

“Thinking about why we exist, and how sad everything is…I keep looking at everyone and thinking, Oh my God, I just want them to smile.”

Gilda is a late 20s lesbian trapped in a painfully familiar cycle of rumination, anxiety, depression, and existential dread. I feel like saying any more than that will tarnish the experience of reading this absolutely fantastic novel, so I’ll refrain. All I’ll really say is that nothing I’ve ever read has come so close to articulating my experience of the world, and now I am a puddle of tears. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Vomit, Animal death, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Death, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Minor: Dementia and Fire/Fire injury

kers_tin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Lesbophobia, and Alcoholism

Minor: Stalking, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Animal death, Self harm, Suicide, and Cancer

samvansam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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: Emotional abuse, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Animal death, Car accident, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Dementia, and Confinement

Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, Stalking, Sexism, Terminal illness, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

sleeson's review against another edition

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

2.0

Narrator was good. I didn’t feel anything that came together. No storyline. No beginning or end. Just dropped right in the middle. So many holes in the story. Not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Grief, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

starburns's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Relatable character, story, and the writing style is basically how my brain works already. 
I will gladly read anything else this author writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Dementia, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Murder, Cancer, Alcohol, Death, Body shaming, Transphobia, and Suicide

blackandwhitejacket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

“this book was just so heartbreaking and wonderful to me.” — a sunny book nook, Youtube.

it’s 1:02 AM and i’m in tears. this was so… full. it represented mental illness and family and loss and religion and trauma—both personal and generational—in such a rich and quietly compelling way.

the writing style was captivating and to-the-point, often funny (i laughed many times) and other times painstakingly direct (i.e. anxiety- and/or nausea-inducing). the structure was also really exciting and refreshing; i was never bored or felt like the story was dragging.

the book also may or may not have contributed to a moderate depressive episode spanning the past two days of isolation… but it matched the gloominess of the weather so i have no reservations.

incredible; i’m blown away; can’t believe i got to consume this for free.

i urge all who enjoy the (overly glamorised) topic of women navigating mental illness—i.e. the Fleabag watchers, My Year of Rest and Relaxation readers and Mitski listeners—to read this book.


some favourite quotes that i marked while listening on Libby (there would be more had I a physical copy):

“I bet that baby would be absolutely baffled to hear why she’s enduring this. Imagine someone forced you to wear a miniature wedding gown, dunked you underwater in front of an audience of your loved ones, and then explained that their rationale for doing this was so that when you die, your spirit would fly to the clouds. If I were this baby, my first words would be “Fuck. Off.”

“It’s ironic that a belief system theoretically created to make me feel safe and meaningful takes away one of the few things that makes me feel like my life is worth living at all[: impermanence, eventually dying].”

“Eleanor keeps texting me. I don’t feel comfortable responding at work because I’m worried that Jeff and the Catholics will sense that i’m doing something gay.”

“Endogynoys opioids are a part of our reward system. It’s what makes having a crush feel enjoyable, rather than just crushing.”

“It’s comforting to imagine that everyone who is dead is just waiting for us in the next room.”

Spoiler

WHEN GILDA FOUND ‘a cat’ UNDER THE STAIRS AT THE END I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE MITTENS AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED CRYING… ONLY FOR ME TO BE RIGHT 😭😭😭 <333333333

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood, Terminal illness, and Vomit