Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

12 reviews

maceydowns's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

upon finishing I immediately had to go back and read the beginning again. Such a unique read that I’m sure you’d get more from on every reread 🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Body horror, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Gore, Eating disorder, Racism, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Violence, and Cannibalism

Minor: Homophobia, War, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Incest, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty

traa's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

kys831's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Eating disorder

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

readerette's review against another edition

I loved Gingerbread in all its quirky glory, but White is for Witching held no charm for me. None of the characters have any warmth, and though they are interesting, I have no investment in the story or their lives because they just seem detached from anything meaningful or good. I have a feeling the second half of the book would remedy some of that but not enough faith or energy to find out. I'm also not impressed that one of the only Black characters to get close to the main character is disturbingly close to the Magic Negro stereotype.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Self harm, and Violence

sallywardlaw's review

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Body horror, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Hate crime, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

madarauchiha's review

slow-paced

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

I'll be honest. I don't think gothic genre is for me. I can tell this is excellently written, but I'm not at all hooked or interested in it. I'll finish reading it though.

Ok I finished. Spiritually I checked out at the 47 percent mark so I'm not sure what happened. Things. Things happened, in a very dreamy manner. Welp. No rating, personally.

Content warnings:
Minor: blood, nazism, ww1, antiblack racist caricature, sexual content, emetophobia / vomit, rape, sexual violence, unsanitary, beastiality, sexual content, drugs weed, Adolf hitler mention , 

Medium: psychiatric institutions, gore, self harm, xenophobia, murder, suicide, anti immigration rhetoric, prison abuse, blood, alcohol use, smoking tobacco, mass shooting, parental death, gun violence 

Major: eating disorders, mental illness, lesbophobic d slur, violence, sexual content, violence, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Self harm, Xenophobia, Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Blood, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Lesbophobia

amyg414d2's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, and Mental illness

falcc's review

challenging dark emotional 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

Firstly I should say that while I did not enjoy this book, the author is clearly a talented writer and I don't want to discourage anyone from her other work. However, White is for Witching is a slog.

The characters in this book - apart from Ore and Sade, who are genuinely great and trying their best - are extremely unpleasant people that it's hard to spend time with. The story drags on until the Ore portions in the second half of the book, and that story is about gradually degrading any sympathy you might initially have for the other characters. Most of the real plot happens in the last 50 pages or so and feels both rushed and unfinished. I spent large portions of my reading experience just inwardly shouting for characters to TALK TO EACH OTHER about what they're feeling and left disappointed and frustrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Incest