Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

21 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Finished reading: January 15th 2025

"That was what the books did—they turned off your thinking for you, put their thoughts in your head so you wouldn't have your own."

I'm a fan of Simone St. James' writing and I love a good historical gothic thriller, so I'm honestly still not sure why it took me this long to actually pick up my copy of The Broken Girls. I'm definitely kicking myself now though, because while not my absolute favorite story written by her, I still ended up having an excellent time reading it. This book uses a dual timeline structure, switching between 1950 with four different POVs and 2014 with one POV. I personally did feel we didn't need the POVs of all four girls in the 1950s timeline; it made it harder to connect to them and I would have much preferred a focus on just one or two of the girls instead. That said, I did enjoy the 1950 timeline with the school setting and the paranormal/gothic/ghost element is well incorporated. I confess that ghost stories don't always work well for me, but I really like what this element added in The Broken Girls. The 2014 timeline focuses on Fiona, who is a journalist with a complicated past. It did take me some time to warm up to her and she could get frustrating at times, but I liked the investigation into Idlewild and the way certain facts were slowly revealed. The two timelines are initially only connected by location rather than the characters, but everything comes together in the end. I did see some of the twists coming, but there were also a couple surprises and as a whole I really enjoyed my time with this story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lbrumler's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Genocide

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

exlibrissum's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

rescuemama97's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

alliedelexa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

my first book by Simone St. James and it didn’t disappoint. admittedly, it took me 3/4 of the book to really get invested. i enjoyed the dual timelines and the ending. i could’ve done without the love story because they generally feel forced but i understand the need to entangle the past with the present in this book. i found all the flashbacks incredibly interesting and i always looked forward to those point of views. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Antisemitism

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

b_lownds127's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I really enjoyed parts of this story, the ghost story for one, the 1950 storyline for another. The 2014 storyline felt forced and unrealistic to me, I did not feel the "romance" of the characters to be convincing and the Big Bad felt incredibly over the top. 

<<<<<Spoiler: 

I felt the resolution of the ghost story was too vague, I really enjoyed the resolution of the 1950 murder, and was irritated beyond tolerance by the end of the 2014 mystery. I felt the author was making a great point about the "good ole boy" cops and small town quid pro quo system with victim silencing accompanied by shoddy police work and then she completely went off the rails and gave us a cop willing to literally hide bodies, cover up murders, kill a journalist, and then shoot at his own son. All the believability ebbed away at that point and I feel the MC's conversation with the irritated chief of police at the end of the book made a better point than the rest of the "corrupt cop" storyline. >>>>

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Told in dual timelines, The Broken Girls is the story of four best friends at a remote boarding school for troubled teens, and a journalist trying to learn buried details of her sister’s murder.

I love a good ghost story, and Simone St. James writes some of the best. The Sun Down Motel remains one of my all time favorites thrillers, and I really enjoyed The Book of Cold Cases earlier this year, so I was super excited to get my hands on The Broken Girls this spooky season. Overall I really enjoyed it—the themes of female friendship and empowerment were really meaningful to me, and I particularly loved the underlying message about the importance of telling stories and not erasing women’s trauma.

I will say that I ultimately wanted a little more from the plot, which sometimes felt a bit disconnected to me, and I wish there had been a bigger twist or two. Still, the creepy boarding school vibes and hauntingly (pun very intended) beautiful writing definitely make this a top notch recommendation for this time of year!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: ghost stories; stories about uncovering and healing from trauma; dual timeline thrillers

CW: Death/murder/attempted murder (including of a child); grief; sexual assault/rape; traumatic brain injury; mentions of anti-semitism/Nazism/concentration camps; mentions of PTSD/suicide/suicide attempt; miscarriage/stillbirth.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

beccam22's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Read this if you like:
🕰 Actually good dual timelines 
👯‍♀️ Close friend groups
🔪 who done it 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism

author2223's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction