Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

53 reviews

emoryjoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I would like to give the caveat that I was listening to this as an audiobook and had it at double speed by the end. This quite nearly was a DNF. 

I'm not sure if the story took liberties with the myth or was just much more in depth than I knew about. Either way, it absolutely nailed the Greek Tragedy vibe and was gruesome in that very specific way that myths often are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I sobbed a lot and loved it. Loving learning about all the women in mythology.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kfergy's review against another edition

dark relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable read - definitely a good fit for those familiar with Greek mythology and always wanted a bit more context to the parables. Good reflection upon traditional femininity and independence, though the ending doesn't necessarily leave you inspired (it's not supposed to) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War

aliyahoff's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Murder, and War

icy_queen's review

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

jaywb's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

I absolutely ADORED this book. 
From start to finish, this book focused on the women lost within mythology, delving into the stories of those forgotten in favour of the male heroes. I have found that with other books that explore the same themes as 'Ariadne', the female characters are still somehow lost in the man's story even though the focus is meant to be on them and their role in Greek mythos; this is not a problem in 'Ariadne'. The focus is constantly on Ariadne and the women surrounding her i.e. her mother and sister, as well as women she percieves as legends e.g. Medusa, with Thesues' part seeming very minimal in contrast to the concentration on illustrating Ariadne's role. The book asks many important questions, inspiring deep thought on women's roles throughout history and mythology. 

 I found the story to be extremely engaging (I read it from start to finish within a week), challenging, emotional and oftentimes quite dark. I thoroughly enjoyed Saint's writing style and will be picking up her other books ASAP!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death and Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest

amyiris's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

agnela's review against another edition

sad tense medium-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? No

2.75

I wanted to dnf this so hard! There was a time in my life where I would have loved this, but now I want to read about powerful characters, about joy and life and becoming better. But this story just told you a story about wronged women and men who messed it up for them. I understand it's ancient Greek culture thing, but damn, we, now, can tell those same stories in a better way, we can imagine these characters taking different choices, even if they end up in the same places. We can give them healing and humanity. Plus we can give them a better ending, because now we know there are more endings and more tellings of their stories. It's so not feminist at all. Ariadne makes a few decisions in her whole life, and that's how the story moves. I think she has made maybe 3 or 4 choices, and the plot then just deals with it. 
The book had a gorgeous cover. The translation had some wobbling with genders and adjectives, although the prose was pretty. But the characters needed so much more polishing and building. 
It's not a feminist story if you tell tragic life of a woman from her own perspective. It's not a feminist story to say men use women's labour and have them to point it out themselves. It just means it's female centric, told from a females perspective. 
It got better to the end, maybe last 30%, where both women have a bit more agency and clear motivations rather than being naive horny girls or trying to survive. I loved Pheadra's point of view, you can at least tell the girls had different interests and passions. I was rooting for Pheadra to get more involved with ruling the kingdom, but I guess all those lessons and experiences tought her nothing. It's funny how both sister's stories involve being horny, Ariadne starts and Pheadra ends with it. No yes I know Pheadra just wanted to run away, but I don't really believe it. She had already visited Ariadne and Naxos where women could run away, and she didn't even love her children much, which I love by the way. Being a woman and being able to have a baby doesn't mean you want to, will be a good mom, or have to. Not to mention the trauma they experienced in their own home might have heavily contributed to how Pheadra felt about motherhood. 
Overall I'm really disappointed. I saw this writer had a book about my beloved Hera and i will not be reading that because I know there will be only suffering and agony for my goddess, and I do not deserve to read about it and neither she deserves it to be write about her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

victoriarius's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

Tense, pensive, a fascinating if melancholy study of being a woman in ancient Greek myth — and what happens to them because of the actions of men.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Rape

claire_riach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Mental illness and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit