Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

15 reviews

sarahb919's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

When the summary said that Vincent disappeared off a cargo shipped I had assumed she survived and had simply pulled a Houdini. I’m kind of disappointed that she just fell off during a storm. I liked the ghosts though. I wish there had been more of that. Overall I enjoyed the story, even if it started out a bit slow and Paul was SUPER irritating. I hated his character. The book and the characters were very well-written. Very believable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Colonisation

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. Generally, this book follows Vincent, a bartender with a drug addict brother and a fondness for filmmaking. After the disappearance of her mother when she was 12, Vincent looks for solid ground and finds it in Jonathan. Jonathan is a rich investment broker who proposes a deal in which Vincent acts as his wife and she gets to spend her time (and his money) as she likes. This book flips between childhood, her time with Jonathan, and her time after. The issues I had with this book mainly center on the multiple povs. This book contained at least 6 full chapters from other characters povs. Sometimes it was relevant like with Jonathan or her brother Paul but even so it was confusing. Also Emily tends to have strong sci-fi(ish) themes in her books and this one was weird but there wasn't much fantasy in this book. I just feel like this could have been stronger but it also could be because I adored Sea of Tranquility and this DOES NOT measure up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement and Mental illness

balconyblackbird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

avasbookmark's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Abandonment

mrlsdevos's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

iicydiamonds's review

dark slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, and Death of parent

theotheleo's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

definitely poetic and interesting. not as good as Station Eleven tho.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Confinement and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Death, and Medical content

readingwithkelsey's review against another edition

4.0

 I am so surprised with how much I enjoyed this. Primarily, Mandel's writing is phenomenal - which I had already known having read Station Eleven but I found it to be a bit more impactful in this one. Perhaps it is due to the more melancholy feel of the atmosphere, but her prose really shined. Readers are pulled back and forth over the course of 20 years, and while it can seem confusing at first, once you start to put the pieces together, the novel really comes together. There is a lot of discussions on loss, grief and opportunity and I feel like Mendel did a great job at demonstrating how each character experiences these things at different opportunities. The novel does have an underlying "mystery" and, while the "why" of it is explained at the end (which made me gasp), the characters' reactions to this event are kind of up to the readers interpretation. For me, the main theme of the novel touches on mental health and depression in particular (which is why Mendel's melancholic writing bodes well) and how it affects these really grandiose characters. The novel sets out to connect you with these complicated characters, so fair warning for plot driven readers. Even though the ponzi scheme forefront plot is interesting in and of itself, it is really the time spent with the characters that I enjoyed the most. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Mental illness

painausten314's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness