Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Gerald's Game by Stephen King

15 reviews

kelseyholler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Did I like it? No. Was it the most horrifying and brutal book I've ever read? Yes. Rating it highly because it was well written and terrified me, so all in all a good horror book. With that being said, I'll never read it again and you can bet I'll never ever recommend it to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, and Incest

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Cannibalism

Minor: Ableism, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

ansatejones's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

4.25

She should have adopted the damn dog at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Mental illness, Incest, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Cannibalism, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I was impressed by how deeply and respectfully this book discussed sexual assault - this was way more than just a thriller surrounding a BDSM game gone wrong, it was a psychological event. I was deeply entertained and shook to the core with everything that happened. I'm not 100% sure how accurate the depictions of schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder as well as sexual assault were, but they felt respectful and I appreciate that.

I do think this book could've benefited from killing some darlings, if you know what I mean. Especially the last thirty-ish pages - which read as a sort of epilogue - could've been scrapped in my opinion, leaving the ending a bit more open. It was all tied up too neatly.

Anyway this was a fun time, and I'm glad to have read it. Nothing tops The Shining, though ;)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Body shaming

Minor: Ableism, Antisemitism, Drug use, Animal death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Misogyny

The book is based around an idea of BDSM that isn't entirely accurate and can be very harmful. This is not what BDSM looks like, everyone!! Because BDSM would imply mutual consent!!! Also there are two subtle references to Nazi Germany in this book which were kind of odd - they were supposed to be funny I think, but I thought they were a little bit tasteless.

motivationsloch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Blood, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, and Child abuse

cearamcvey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Misogyny, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Gore, Incest, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Body horror, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

fjordpingvin's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Incest, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Excrement, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Body horror, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Stalking, Grief, Gore, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Misogyny, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexism, and Mental illness

gavinn_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was an absolute beast of a story. I burned through this book so quickly and it was difficult to put down, yet I didn’t want to keep going it was so disturbing. I shaved off a few points due to the sheer amount of incest in this book. I think that this could serve as a legitimate plot point, but in the case of this book it seemed to be purely shock factor. Despite this, the story was extremely well written and very addictive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Incest, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Rape, Gore, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

hb2249's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This book was overwhelming to say the least. I am usually fine when it comes to reading books with very dark themes, but this was too much for me. When I finished it, I definitely regretted reading it, but thinking on it, it certainly set new boundaries for me when it came to serious topics. If thinking about reading PLEASE read the trigger warnings before, I went into this blind and I kind of regret it. Definitely a book I will only ever read once.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gore, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Car accident

This book is forever known as the trauma book to my friends and I. DO NOT read if you have sensitivities to sexual assault, especially between adult and child. This book hits hard and it has graphic details of crimes in it. It heavily details mental trauma and mental illness in the main character.

alex_4_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, and Gore