Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

4 reviews

creativerunnings's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Medical content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

literarylion's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Pros:

• a good and necessary perspective on serious mental illness and its perception in society
• definitely a story that hasn't been told before

Cons:

• It got progressively more trite 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Chronic illness

vigil's review

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

the author has a very impersonal style of writing, alluding to her background in academia (which she likes to make note of, often) that makes it difficult to emotionally engaged with though highly informative. her first-hand account of schizophrenia and the way it is treated by the healthcare system was thought provoking and again, informative.

what i will say is that it jumps around from topic to topic with little coherency. the ultimate endpoint of the book, is more akin to a memoir, perhaps a journal, than essays. and because of this failure of the marketed and titled premise it begins to feel increasingly trite as it goes on. i think this quality would’ve likely stayed even if reworked into a memoir format, but it might have been somewhat mitigated. in a memoir if you don’t want to have deep reflection on your privileged life and attitude (she loves to remind readers that she went to yale, generally in every entry) that is one thing, but in a collection of essays? it seems odd and out of place how little this was explored or addressed, only simply, and i must stress, repeatedly, stated with no clear purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, and Self harm

translove's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective

4.25

not gonna lie, this book was so hard to read at times. because it was too relatable and touched me in ways that made me feel seen but also reminded me of the worst times of my life. really appreciate this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Death, and Suicide