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fran2567's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Outing, Drug use, Sexual content, Self harm, Abandonment, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Lesbophobia, Abortion, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Suicide, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia
If you have trauma of forced institutionalisation or sexual abuse by a family member, then I would not recommend this book. It does have a happy ending and the main characters reclaim their trauma.zeus_strider's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Misogyny
Minor: Child death, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Blood, and Abandonment
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, and Ableism
Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Grief, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Minor: Child death, Animal death, Eating disorder, Incest, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Racism
anacereading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia
Minor: Vomit
surelyinthefountain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
There's a lot of content in here that's uh...pretty triggering, to say the least. Thematically, the book is in no small part about trauma -- its effects, its consequences, etc. -- so it kind of needed to be so. I don't think Waters ever goes gratuitous with it, either. But yeah, the forced institutionalization stuff in here is no joke.
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Eating disorder
Minor: Pedophilia
lais's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Pedophilia
cousinrachel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is one where you have to pay attention, because Waters won't spell everything out for you: she really goes for the show-don't-tell, from characters' thoughts and emotions to events that take place in the plot. Which I appreciate, because so many books explain everything in painful detail, thereby giving less than due credit to readers' imagination and comprehension, and also ruining the effect. Very often, less is more.
Sometimes she gets a little too into the minds of the characters telling the story, though (never knew that was possible!), and I wish she'd get back to the story. It's still better than extended painful details, but the vague meditation runs on a bit too long and lost me somewhat now and then.
Another thing that could have improved it for me would have been making the characters, like Sue, more likable. I know that was a large part of the novel's point, that Sue was out for her own interests and fell in love with Maud anyway. But aside from her difficult life, I found it hard to sympathize with her, however much of it may not have been her fault because of her upbringing as a thief. But making her somewhat more sympathetic or giving her a cute quirk or two would have made her more easy to like and root for, I think.
But man, the twists! This book could be read for the plot twists alone. I've seen the BBC adaptation and this book still made my head spin, which is saying something for Waters' talent. I'm hoping to find another book of hers to rival this one in unpredictability. I found the very end to be implausible, or at least it could have been done in a way that made it more believable, but it seems like Waters felt she had to end it the way she did for the sake of the outcome.
Maybe I should have mentioned this first, but I like to save the good parts for later. Anyway. This has to be one of the most original books I've ever read. There's the premise, the plot twists of course, and then child abuse, but it's the strangest form of mistreatment I have seen in a book or movie or anywhere else. I don't know if it's at all based in historical fact or if Waters' warped mind invented it, but wow, I just... I don't have words. Just read the book.
Last, because it's the best part: the emotions. Amid the trickery and intrigue, characters' feelings - and not only the romance - are amazingly genuine. There's that shown-not-told again. Books very, very rarely manage to make me cry, but there was one scene that sneaked up on me and broke that rule. Waters is so skilled at building her novel: not telling you out of the blue what you should be experiencing, but taking you on a journey alongside the people she creates, so that when they feel something, you feel it too.
Overall, nail-biting, touching, and worth reading. I hope I find another book by this author to rival Fingersmith.
Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence
marionhoney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts