Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

34 reviews

miyothecat's review

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Incest, and Suicide

_azure76's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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 horror, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Blood

carolinestes's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

White is for Witching is a book I started for class, put down, picked back up in a panic the week before my exam, and then was engulfed by. It is eerie and deep and confusing and meaningful. This is not a pleasant, good vibes book this is a book that forces you to see the ugliness in the world and in our history.
Miranda is a white British girl haunted by three generations of racist female ancestors along with the house they all lived in. Miranda’s story shows how white people, specifically white women, can never escape the horrors of our colonial, racist ancestors. No matter Miranda’s love for her Nigerian-British girlfriend, she will always hold that evil white female history within her.
This book amazed me. I have so so many thoughts on it that could never fit into a single post. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

poirot's review

dark mysterious slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Gore and Confinement

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, and Drug use

j_squaredd's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

I would likely rate this much higher if I were in a different headspace when I had read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Gore

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Death of parent

ivy123's review

dark mysterious slow-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

4.25

This book is like nothing I have ever read I am not sure how to talk about it. The writing style takes awhile to get used to and in a way I dont think I ever did get used to it. It is told from multiple perspectives all leading up to the disappearance of the main character Miranda but sometimes you do not even know it has switched perspectives till something about how the person is talking clicks. The writing is also very lyrical, haunting and at times dreamlike which can make I interpretation challenging at times. 

I loved the intergenerational links between the women in the family and the perspective from the house itself was an interesting twist. There were actually parts in the story that creeped me out as well and for someone who struggles to get that scared feeling from books this story provided. I love me a female female romance and that was also delivered by the book. Theres also some interesting points on racism both overt and subtle woven throughout the story which gave another layer to the story. 

However despite the premise I found there was not really much of a plot but that didnt actually both me that much. In fact it seemed there were lots of things in here that would usually put me off no happy or conclusive ending, hard to read writing style, not much happening etc but somehow I found myself enjoying it for what it was and not being too bothered by it which made this so very hard to rate. Definetly keen to give her other works a go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

headachesince03's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Death, Body shaming, Body horror, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Gore, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Gore, Lesbophobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Alcohol, Stalking, Incest, Gun violence, Drug use, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Xenophobia

kateriv's review

challenging dark reflective

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

4.0

This book takes a lot of time to digest and breakdown. for me, personally? it’s going to require a second read through and some consulting with the internet to figure out certain aspects. A lot of times you don’t know what’s real and what’s not, which definitley adds to what Oyeyemi is trying to convey. Really great but also a kind f**k of a book. Also on my second read I fully expect I’ll give it a higher rating, just because I’ll be able to comprehend it better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

fantasticraccoon's review

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Mental illness

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Incest

kclark's review against another edition

mysterious 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness