Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

8 reviews

nvrrrdie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

This book was really far out of my comfort zone so I don't really know if I can give it a fair review.  I agree with other readers that people may want to review content warnings before reading at their own discretion.

This book had powerful character writing and was very emotional, which I appreciated. I think it was trying to do something really strong with the families depicted and I think it was successful for the most part. 

I don't live in Scarborough, but I do live in the GTA so some parts of this were close to home for me. However I didn't like how some characters felt like examples or lessons rather than fully written people. I felt like this was really strong with Viktor's character and it was just kind of reductive and disappointing. Those parts of the story felt like a cheap way of viewing others experiences as displayed for an outside observer and I don't feel like it was useful to the greater picture of the story either.

There are several issues I take with this book but the writing was really interesting and I think it was a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Excrement, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

valeriedittrich's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

wept in public when i finished this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death

brerabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

gerzonvillegas's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying and Death

jessicacorrigan's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Heart breaking yet beautiful book about a community that is just trying to survive. Makes you think twice about the individuals you may see on the street, on the bus, and in your school. This should be a mandatory read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

zee's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Mental illness, Islamophobia, and Abandonment

ramblereader's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Excrement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Experiences of struggling families in Scarborough,ON told through diverse voices: children, parents, and an educator who runs the program they visit.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Islamophobia

Minor: Death, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury