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The Girl on the Landing
The Girl on the Landing
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Reading Paul Torday's novel "The Girl on the Landing" makes one want to paraphrase Joseph Heller's quote from "Catch 22" to read: "Just because you're [being treated for] paranoid [schizophrenia], doesn't mean they aren't really after you". The plot here is dark, fascinating and gives one food for thought about mental illness and if some types of disturbed states might not have some basis in the outside world. Torday knows how to grab his readers, and his style is one that makes reading his books a pleasure. You can read my full review here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2013/12/21/a-girl-who-is-part-mystery-part-fantasy/
  
A Note Of Madness
A Note Of Madness
Tabitha Suzum | 2007 | Music & Dance, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences, Young Adult (YA)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mental health awareness (1 more)
Likeable chapters
Long chapters (0 more)
This novel was the authors debut, for a debut novel it's well written and flows fairly well. The portrayal of bipolar disorder / manic depression is realistically unsettling. It really shows how damaging a misdiagnosis could be and the serious effect of being dismissed. To avoid spoilers I'm not going to say if this story ends with a happy or an unfortunate end. I will advise you NOT to read this if you suffer from a mental illness and are triggered easily, this could be a serious trigger.
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Following on, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really appreciate the mental health awareness in it which is a rare find in a book, I found this a hard one to score higher than 7/10. This is solely due to the fact that the chapters are long, ranging on average at about 25+ pages. This made it difficult to stay focused and I found myself having to read back a couple of pages to recap. This is completely my own problem as I enjoy shorter chapters and I really dislike stopping half way through a chapter.
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Overall I 100% recommend this book. It's very underrated and deserves more awareness
  
The History of Jane Doe
The History of Jane Doe
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was really intrigued by the description of this book and happy when I won the chance to read and review it. The History of Jane Doe is an ode to first loves, and a journey through mental illness. It's fun, it's sad, it's heartbreaking while also being heartwarming.

Ray is a high-schooler history-buff in love with Jane. She enters his life and him and his best friend Simon are forever changed. But she hides some deep dark secrets that torment her and Ray has a hard time seeing into her head, as is usually the case when loving someone who is depressed, and he struggles to find his way through her dark past so that they can have a future. This is a history of her life, written by Ray, flipping between the past and present of one devastating day when everything changes.

Michael Belanger writes that he's experienced some painful episodes in his life, and it's evident in how eloquently he decribes feelings of sadness and darkness. I can imagine this book will make quite a few people very sad, as most everyone knows someone who suffers from depression, or anxiety, or other forms of mental illness. But I also think it will probably help just as many. I applaud him for his candor and insights into a rarely talked-about issue.

If you love 13 Reasons Why, or anything by John Green, you will love this story. The witty banter between Ray and Jane, Simon and Mary is refreshing and fun, and it's an interesting look into mental illness, how things in life can trigger it, and change a person, and and exploration of how it affects all those around you, and how even though you may think you are ending your suffering, you are ultimately just passing it on to those who loved you.

What I took away most from this is that even if you feel like you are drowning in darkness and can't see past the shadows, you never know what a light you'll be to someone else.