Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Wir Tiere by Justin Torres

11 reviews

anindistinctaccountant's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Outing

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, and Religious bigotry

onceuponherbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A difficult read but necessary I think. Has so many points for deep conversations. It kept me interested but some moments were really tough to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

swordrager's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Outing, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

yleavy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Outing

specificwonderland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

In a way, not too much happened in this brief novella. In another way, so much happened. To list out the plot points is novella-length, a truncated bulleted list. To describe the characters' inner workings is a much larger project. I felt for these brothers and their survival. You could see how Paps exerted his influence but the kids didn't fully shrink away or lose themselves until the final threads of the story got woven. He exerted his influence on the mom from day 1, to everyone's detriment. You could feel the helplessness of the kids being swept along with the parents' bullshit. You hope kids are well cared for by competent parents but that's not always the case. Parents can just be people, and people are imperfect to some degree. And what a cast of ancillary characters: the neighbor, the bus driver and the mom's coworker Camrade. Re: the neighbor, it's infuriating that kids could be outside bouncing a ball yelling about the abuse they were bearing and the neighbor would be like, 'Hmmm this is a perfect time to show neglected kids incest porn'. But you know that happens in small towns, big towns, rich towns, poor towns. These kids never stood a chance, but they had each other.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

uhhjeepers's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

Read for school.

This is a fast-paced, vignette styled narrative that tells the coming of age story of the youngest of three brothers. This book really came together for me at the end, and I strongly recommend it. It is emotional and honest and the writing is spectacular. The growth from the narrative feeling like it’s told from a child to a teenager really stuck with me, like I could read the changes on the page.

Check for TWs. They’re brief and don’t go into excruciating detail, but I still definitely felt them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Outing

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad

• 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

5.0

This book pulls at the threads of humanity, fraying the fabric until it's distilled to its purest parts. The narrator shows the core memories of childhood, building up into the moment of the fracturing of his family unit and the unit that was made up of his brothers. Their childlike, experimenting, queered, and crushed mother makes such a complex character, as does their father and the juxtaposition of his tenderness and machismo. This book is truly unsettling and full of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cococorycollins's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, and Sexual content

fructosebaby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, and Outing

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol

bail33's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

I just finished reading this and this is the kind of book that will take a day to finish but will stay with you the rest of your life. Nothing I can say will properly communicate how this book made me feel. Incredible writing, incredible composition, outstanding book.

Many are rating it lower because of how sad it is, or because they expected typical novel composition, or because of the abruptness of the last chapter. I’ll say that the last chapter doesn’t feel abrupt if you’re picking up on the breadcrumbs left by Torres throughout the latter half of the book; the composition is absolutely perfect for the content, in my opinion because it mirrors the disjointedness that was the life of these brothers; and the sadness makes sense, as the book is loosely based off of Torres’ life and the sadness seems appropriate for the content and the amount he is reflecting on his upbringing. Everything in this novel felt right to me, and all of the artistic choices felt like they fit perfectly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Abandonment