Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

83 reviews

rikerdreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

herelieshenry's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Pregnancy

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Such a sad story. Reread it after watching it at my kid's high school play. Full of triggers, and not for the faint of heart. Brave of Tennessee Williams to tackle these topics. A classic for a reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Outing, Abandonment, and Classism

giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.0

Really torn in how to rate this book. In one hand, literature classics are classics for a reason; Williams' deconstruction of the human psique is worthy of the recognition this book got over the decades. In the other hand, I'll always have problems recommending books that contain racial slurs and 

a not explicit but clear rape scene, even though one could argue the scene is important for the transformation of Stanley into the fully fledged villlain of the story and Blanche's ultimate downfall into madness

. It was in some instances a subtle study on mental illness, with shadows and clever directions to indicate Blanche's downwards spiral into a dark place of hysteria and delusion. But the hysteria on itself can feel tired and misogynistic. In the end, I decided to increase 0.25 points to the score to allow for a reread in the future that might make me better understand the brilliance of William's play.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Rape

applebottomjeans's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism and Physical abuse

returningb00kworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Suicide, Grief, and Classism

janewa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicide and Medical trauma

Minor: Racism

pomegranatepanacea's review against another edition

challenging tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

I'm trying to parse my feelings on this one. I liked it a lot up until the last scene. It left a bad taste in my mouth at the end, even though I know that was a deliberate choice on Williams' part... Definitely check the content warnings if you want to read it. It didn't ruin it for me, but it definitely left me with a lot of conflicting feelings and a lot of things to think about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

I want to explain the graphic content warning for mental illness. This spoils the ending of the play in detail.

In the last scene, scene eleven, a doctor and a matron show up to the apartment to hospitalize Blanche. There is mention of a straitjacket, but the doctor says it won't be necessary. Blanche is hospitalized seemingly because she is a compulsive liar, hears music that isn't there, and has developed a delusion.

This ending just seemed very out-of-left-field. It greatly affected my enjoyment of this great play. I know that this is deliberate on Williams' part to showcase Stella's character (

she sees the best in everyone, after all, no matter what

) and the negative stigma surrounding mental health and how it's treated. It's just a massive bummer, and I tend to enjoy reading bummers.

nehanda's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

simoneparis's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully tragic, encapsulates emotional ignorance and tragedy surrounding patriarchal standards of men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Minor: Rape

I don't think I've ever pitied and loved and hated a character as much as Blanche Dubois, there's a bit of her in us all.