Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Confession by Jessie Burton

10 reviews

readingelli's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion and Infidelity

Minor: Self harm

_david_'s review

challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

The main characters were very selfcentered and bad at voicing their wants and opinions. This combination made me dislike the book at first, because I was under the impression that I as the reader should've felt sympathy for them. I really liked the ending on Rosie's part. I find the parallel stories done very cleverly. I enjoyed the ending of the book much more than the bulk of it, so I ended up giving it three stars.

A small thing that bugged me now and then was the dialogues. I found myself having to re-read some sentences to pin down who was talking/who pronouns were referring to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

zara89's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Miscarriage, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Lesbophobia

sophieamreacher's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I don’t really know how to rate this. I enjoyed this and I didn’t. Some parts were really interesting and some parts weren’t. Intriguing book. Took me ages to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Infidelity, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Abortion

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

2.0

Finished reading: May 16th 2023

WARNING: guess what?! It's another unpopular opinion!

Right... I already feared this was going to happen to be honest. Slower stories haven't really worked for me lately, and I had my doubts if I was going to be in the mood for The Confession. My TBR jar decided it was time for me to finally read it back in February, and I've been posponing it ever since... This is in fact the third time I tried starting it, which is never a good sign I guess. That said, the slower pace wasn't my main issue with this book. Between the cringeworthy writing ("her cunt a warm coal"; WTF?!), the tone being way too pretentious, the weak character development, the unlikeable characters and my general lack of interest in how the story would develop, I had a very hard time convincing myself to keep reading. In fact, I started skimreading quite early on, and I truly wish I had just DNFed it instead. I hated that the women seemed to be defined by their ability to have children, and the feminism incorporated into the plot didn't feel genuine. The male characters hardly had any development at all, and the female characters were simply maddening. Guess who truly didn't agree with her TBR jar this time around? Most people do seem to enjoy this one though, so it might just be that Jessie Burton's writing simply isn't for me anymore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Infertility, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Child death, Alcoholism, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

anya_lasagna's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This has to be one of my favourite books of all time! It was the first book by Jessie Burton that I read, initially drawn in by the beautiful cover art (not to mention the promise of a wlw relationship) and after my most recent reread, I am taking to goodreads to rant and rave a little bit, because in my opinion, this book doesn’t get nearly enough credit as it deserves (compared to The Miniaturist, at least).

Burton (once again) showcases her talent for writing beautiful prose – although it is not as ornate or as obvious in this novel – as well as her ability to handle complex themes proficiently and sensitively. However, the plot is still present, and kept my eyes glued to the page from start to finish, even without as much conventional mystery as it pertains to the plot. Instead, the reader (and the other characters!) are enthralled by the character of Elise Morceau, and the protagonist’s journey to find out about her mother (Elise). I think the way Burton writes Elise is somewhat genius, in that we are privy to her thoughts and feelings – which are expressed in a rather matter-of-fact way – but the mystery of the character remains intact.

All in all, this book is a treasure! Read if you want: intergenerational female friendships, a wlw relationship which is not treated differently just because of the wlw aspect, poignant discussion of motherhood, reflection on mental illness

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

andreapap15's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Enveloped in Burton's beautiful prose, a deep dive into parental abandonment, and what it does to a child growing up without a mother. A feminist novel about motherhood, and what defines a woman. Filled with complicated relationships and believable characters (minus the men). Oh and it's sapphic! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Abortion

Moderate: Abandonment and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

rebeckareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

It was easy to suspend my disbelief for this book and I overall enjoyed the writing, the themes, the generational parallells and the flaws of the characters. It also had some questions in the end in case you're reading it for a book club, which was cool.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Abortion, and Mental illness

radella_hardwick's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

There is simply nothing wrong with this book.

I love that Burton confounds our expectations of how a book like this will end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

lottelow's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, and Mental illness