Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The End of Alice by A.M. Homes

12 reviews

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not entirely sure how to sum up this book. It was an interesting read, and i think the writing was very well done, but the ending left a lot of loose ends that i think could have been explored more. 

The final chapter was especially disturbing to me, and there were many scenes that made me feel very icky, so this certainly isn’t a book for the faint hearted and definitely check trigger warnings before picking this up because it gets very heavy very quickly. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Child death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Self harm, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

waverlyloyd's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Vomit

eefsteefs's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Incest, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Vomit

catell's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Rape, Child death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug use, Self harm, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Grief, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

vavocado's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

rachelparker's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Child death, Pedophilia, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Vomit, Death, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

la_karina1818's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

1.25

In summary, I would say this book is like an attempt at being "Lolita" but being much worse. It has certain elements of it, like,

Alice being his first love, turned bad as we discover he murders her in a hotel room.

Basically, "Lolita" gone bad. The sophisticated language the narrator uses is based on the fact he has studied in university back in 1961, which is an excuse to pretty much say he is intelligent. It was important to find out what made him the man he really is today, but only thing that could be said is 

the fact his mother was sent to a mental institution multiple times and used him as a sexual pleasure tool.

For me, his whole backstory wasn't that convincing, it would have been a lot more impactful if he grew up in a very healthy household and then as he grew up he developed those disturbing preferences. It would have contributed toward the whole message of the book, which I will get on later to.
His correspondence with the unnamed girl he names Alice, is of a casual nature of which later on he begins to notice similarities between his first love and her. To me, this girl wasn't a pedophile in the making per say, but she did these pedophilic actions in order to feel something in her life. She experiences anorexia, a sense of abandonment by her parents and body dysmorphia. Later on, 

as she continues her "relationship" with Matt, the twelve year old boy in her neighbourhood,

she feels disgust at what she is doing and she wants to stop all of this. This girl was someone who had serious mental health issues, from which she wanted to share with someone but did not feel comfortable telling anyone. As a result, she decided to start talking to "Chappy" in order to be heard and understood by someone. I honestly wanted to have a dual narrative, with her telling her story instead of him. We are not told what happens to her in the end, but it could have been improved on, like her trip to Europe being a new outlook on the world for her, which would have led her to be more open to other people and talk to them. 
This book does indeed have disturbing themes, with all types of sexual violence under the sun being present in the novel. These scenes are indeed disgusting, but they were very present for the shock factor and it started getting repetitive. For me, this book overall wasn't disturbing, because it wasn't something that stuck with me, the messaging was not something that was able to make me think deeply and reflect on what I just read. The message this book tries to put forward in the very beginning is that this story serves the purpose to make us reflect on how all of us have disturbing things we fetishise but will never share with anyone else. What I found quite smart was how halfway through, the narrator address the reader by saying how throughout the whole narrative they were probably finding it enjoyable even though they know all of it is immoral and disgusting. Linking it back to the beginning, the whole message could have been expressed through how he himself was an ordinary looking person, who grew up in a healthy environment but still he developed his pedophilic preferences. This was attempted with the girl he corresponded with, but she wasn't someone that could have fit this criteria. Overall, it's messaging wasn't worth 272 pages of pedophilia porn on paper. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Mental illness and Murder

Minor: Excrement, Abandonment, and Vomit

nachoheiress's review

dark reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

stelladafloresta's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

autumnwhite's review

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence