Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

7 reviews

madzie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Animal death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Acephobia/Arophobia, War, and Eating disorder

breathehopebooks's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-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? It's complicated

2.75

Oof okay so

I remember waaaaaay back in the day—i must’ve been like 11 or 12? My mom made me check this book out and read it. Idk if my mom read this at one point and thought i’d like it, or if it was required summer reading, or if she pick it randomly as “YA book for girl by Hispanic author”. It was probs one of the second two, from what i recall.
ANYWAY. I’m really glad 11 year-old me couldn’t get through this book because THERE’S NO WAY MY MOM ACTUALLY WANTED ME TO READ THIS AT THAT AGE.

I kept thinking of this as a Hispanic “Little Women”, which is to say they are very similar in that it’s a book, told mostly in vingettes with a very loose plot to tie up at the end, about four sisters coming-of-age in a changing country. One of them is a writer called Jo/Yo, one is a flirt, and one becomes very ill for no reason. It’s literally about these four daughters growing up and their parents’ experiences with them in a new society.

But all the sexual content described? Probs not appropriate for an eleven-year-old, Mom.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and War

ximevillarejo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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? Yes

2.0

this would’ve been great but the timeline and narrators of the story are confusing, as i read along i felt that it was going no where. 

also, in this edition in particular the intro is beautifully written but i felt that elizabeth didn’t read the book it says some stuff, for example: laura didn’t understand jojo’s poems because of the language when it is stated, more than once, that laura studied in the usa, so it didn’t make any sense and only confused me more as i was reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, and Toxic relationship

hedsek's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

Not for me I guess

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Genocide, Incest, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Ableism

joensign's review

hopeful reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

Minor: Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Incest, War, and Fatphobia

amvs1111's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Animal death, Violence, War, Sexism, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Racism, and Adult/minor relationship

katherine_kelley's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-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

2.5

 

I don't know what to say. It was fine but had no real impact on me. I wasn't intrigued by the lives of these people, really. I also struggled to distinguish between perspectives and found the serialized nature of the novel not to be particularly interesting. I think I might have liked it better if I went into it with the expectation of it being a collection of stories instead of one narrative because it isn't one narrative. I also think that the book is really outdated in places with fatphobia and colorism. I also found the actions of characters that were intentionally unlikable made me uncomfortable sometimes. Like, I was supposed to find it unlikable, but it didn't make me like the story that was being told. I also was not interested in the sisters' domestic lives, which make up a large part of the narrative. It's just not for me, and I don't think it was really cohesive enough for most people to get something out of it as a total product. But what do I know?

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Moderate: Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Racism