Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

13 reviews

akbbailey's review

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Trafficking, Death, Xenophobia, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

michellebelle4's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Grief

hmbrokaw's review

emotional 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

4.25

Nuanced, maddening, lovesble characters. How to live and love in a way that honors those you love most and yourself at the same time? “It was broken. It’s beautiful.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Grief

amberinbookland's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Grief, Medical content, Suicide, and Mental illness

plantgal_jill's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Deportation, and Grief

Minor: Racism, Vomit, Medical content, and Police brutality

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

This book wasn't really grabbing me at first, and I still didn't find it super exciting or interesting. The author seemed to be gesturing at big topics and important issues without really doing anything unique with them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Police brutality, Genocide, Colonisation, Animal death, Mass/school shootings, Dementia, War, and Infidelity

Deportation

shellybelly's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Trafficking, Suicide, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

thecolourblue's review

emotional 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

3.5

Alvarez’ writing is certainly poetic and seems rooted in a deep love of literature and storytelling, making this an easy book to enjoy reading, however, I think the book suffers somewhat from its own brevity.

Antonia herself is a compelling character, and as a portrait of an older, widowed main character the book is refreshing, but there are SO many issues being addressed in a short book - immigration, false perceptions, stereotypes, language, cultural differences, family responsibility, obligation, mental health, policing, economics... that none of these things really gets the full exploration it deserves. This is particularly clear, for me, in

Izzy’s story, which didn’t hit me with the emotional resonance it should have given its conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide

Minor: Police brutality and Racism

ukponge's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

casey_sunshine's review

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Medical content, and Death of parent