Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Sula by Toni Morrison

22 reviews

amy_q13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racism, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cursing, Excrement, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

Minor: Slavery and War

henrib11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Blood, Addiction, Excrement, Classism, War, Drug use, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Body shaming

jkull_10's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs

lilcoppertop's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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: Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Dementia, Excrement, Addiction, Blood, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, War, Grief, and Mental illness

lizziaha's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Every perspective in this book flows into the next like water in a river—an unstoppable force. That being said, the one I wanted to linger with the most, the one I tried to swim upriver in, was Nel’s perspective. Maybe this is because Nel and Sula’s friendship was the most compelling part of this book. And Morrison agrees, if the final line of the book is any indication: “We was girls together.” There’s a particular kind of grief that Morrison writes about in this book that feels yawning, endless, undefinable. She manages to fit such a huge concept into so few words, I feel like I’ve been robbed of all the words that she should have needed. As I work my way through Morrison’s books, I fear I’m beginning to see a trend of being in awe of her writing, while not caring much for the plot. Two books aren’t really enough to say that definitively but I’m interested to see what I think about her other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Sexism, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia

eve81's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Suicide

jennswan's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racism, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug abuse, and War

jinglebellyee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

It took me a long time to finish reading Sula and ngl, I did struggle to understand the subtext. I even had to search the internet after each chapter, trying to understand what I’ve just read. It definitely was helpful but wished I’d arrived at the conclusion/analysis myself. It was deliberately looking for a book about female friendships and this was a very interesting read, it’s unlike your usual novels so I’ll be thinking about this. My heart aches for Sula and Nel, the friendship they had when they were kids vs when they are adults turned out to be so different (and bittersweet). The characters definitely had very distinct personalities and you could really relate to them as the story progresses. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, and Child death

maregred's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, War, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Toxic friendship and Racism

annahelle's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Blood, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Minor: Cursing and Domestic abuse