Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Mrs. March

Mrs March is happy with her life - taking care of house and home while her author husband George March finds success within his writing career and their young son Jonathan appears a happy little boy. But Mrs March's world is turned upside down when a local shopkeeper remarks that a character in George's new book, reminds him of Mrs March and she can't escape it. As reality and imagination blur together, Mrs March begins to suspect her husband of horrid crimes and wonders if she ever really knew him at all.

This was an interesting, quite gripping tale as we follow a woman whose grip on reality begins to unravel the further we venture into the story. We learn a lot about Mrs March, except her first name, from the type of strange child she was, her early relationship with her husband and the distant wife she has become centered on appearances. I found Mrs March as a character focus truly fascinating - how she reacts to others, and always how she focuses on herself as well and makes every little thing about her and how people must think about her.

There was an element of murder mystery in this book too, and I quite enjoyed the 'what if?' part of the book - even though Mrs March is starting to lose it a little bit, some of what she is thinking about George and Sylvia almost does sound plausible at times, and I was almost ready for a twist that it would actually be true. I found myself fascinated in a way someone can be in something tragic as we followed Mrs March on her solitary journey to discover more, and the sad, lonely, desperate figure she was (morphing more and more into Johanna in many ways I guess).

Content Warnings

benevolentruler's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.25

Never tapped "it's complicated" so much in a review before. The MC is at once, relatable and despicable. She's deeply troubled and the book is an unsettling slow-burn for this reason. Yet it's also captivating and propulsive. I had such a good time with this book; had me audibly tsk-ing, laughing, snorting, and uh oh-ing throughout.

Content Warnings

ambermariebee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

Content Warnings

lotoblanco's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

btothebooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I am not usually a suspense reader but this one had me captivated. A friend saw I was reading and asked what I thought and a metaphor about “The Yellow Wallpaper” came to mind.

Couple of other thoughts:

I couldn’t quite place this in time. At first I thought the 50s but then some other things were mentioned and I thought maybe the 80s? Either way,
the trip she takes to Maine
could not have happened in modern times.
I was about a third of the way through the book when I realized we don’t actually know her name
and then was very surprised to see it in the last line of the book.

Content Warnings

confusible's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

This was an interesting one. It definitely has a Hitchcockian feel. It’s well written and Fieto does a good job of getting you in Mrs March’s head as she devolves. I did see some of the twists coming but it was still an enjoyable read and kept me engaged the whole time.

Content Warnings

alicesss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.5

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