Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito

4 reviews

wordsofclover's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Dementia

lotoblanco's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Violence, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Blood, and Body shaming

Moderate: Dementia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cursing

owlien's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Minor: Infidelity, Dementia, and Excrement

lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

Looking solely at the dust jacket blurb for Mrs. March, I thought it was more of a modern murder mystery story. (I bought it on sale at B&N and told my mom she could read it after me because it seemed up her alley too—I retracted that offer!) 

While I personally have found I’m not crazy about psychological thrillers like this, I can appreciate that it is well written.

However, the third person narration left me wanting more…

  I would have liked to have heard more from other characters’ perspectives, specifically the experiences they were having alongside Mrs. March, especially people like Martha or the upstairs neighbor.

Overall, it was a solid read. Not one I’ll revisit, but not one that will slip out of my memory anytime soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Vomit, Violence, and Racism