Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - A Study in Drowning

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Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

138 reviews

sophiarichter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

I was really excited to read this book because I saw a glowing review on it. To be honest I was a bit disappointed by the quality of writing, even though the world and characters were well-developed I felt like I was being hit over the head with the same point. I loved the sea imagery and many of the lines were quite beautiful.

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daydaybookbay's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.75

I rated this book a 5.5 out of 10. There are many elements to this novel I enjoy, but I wish each had been explored more. By dropping the adolescent romance, more effort could be dedicated to expanding the settings and main plotlines.

Ava Reid writes beautiful phrases and sprinkles them throughout the chapters. Her artistic metaphors rest on the boundry of remaining applicable. The wording captures the reader, but any further, the intention would be lost. She uses imagery to convey emotion and the characters' mindsets.

The characters fell a bit flat for me. Each character was one dimensional and served only one purpose throughout the book. Preston exists to be an on-paper protective love interest. Effy is constantly reminding you how misogyny, sexism, and her beauty overshadow her genius. Every other character means nothing to me.

Effy's low-key racist. Her xenophobia is front and center, but we are
overlooking that? Why?! Time and time again, she shows her
academic rivalry" is really just her prejudice against Argantians.

I wanted more from the fairy-tale.

We are to believe the Fairy King is real, so why are there literally ZERO other elements involved? Everything points to Effy actually having mental health issues where she has "episodes." If Angharad was a ghost/spirit or if Effy would have seen an alternate reality through the hagstones, these would be easy places to incorporate fantasy aspects.

Is Effy a reliable narrator? Honestly, I'm left thinking the fantasy aspect is really part of Effy's imagination. She experienced great trauma from her mother, and her obsession with Myrddin's novel plays a role in her coping. I'm left to feel she really has mental health issues, and maybe the pink pills are good for her.

I know that's not the conclusion I'm "supposed" to reach, but...

I wish there had been more development in the setting and the characters. The countries, the North and South, the school, the house, the land... I could never picture them. The only thing I was able to imagine was the door to the basement. There is this whole world Reid introduced in this book, but we never get a clear picture of what it's like.

I really wanted to love this book. Part of me feels I would have enjoyed it more as a physical book because I would get bored listening to it. I never got the feeling of being immersed in the story.

I love the moody vibes Reid is able to create. The feel and the way she conveys emotion is beautiful. I wish the attention to the setting had matched. I want to visualize where the characters are and how the North/South/Bottom Hundred look and compare to each other. I wanted to pull more from the text.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

1.75

I’ve been steadily chipping away at NPR’s 2023 favorite books list. Starting to wonder why. There seem to be more I dislike than like, including this one. Yeah, heroine is great, but a lot of it is too contrived for me, and most of the characters are really despicable.

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star_charter152's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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lyall_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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dyanimae's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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darlingmoira's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

2.75

This is not the book for me. The writing style is good, it allowed me to finish the book despite really struggling with the story.
This book is talked about as an enemies to lovers but once again hugely misses the mark! The “enemies” part relies on the main character being openly racist to her counterpart. For the majority of the book she talks and thinks about how her soon to be lover shouldn’t even be allowed to study at her school.
The plot could have been really well done if it removed that aspect of the story completely.
I have to acknowledge that the “feminist” aspects of this story are well done. How the main character handles a SA situation internally and then makes progress with dealing with it is portrayed very realistically. Everything about that part of the story is well done but otherwise book would have just been a 2 and nothing more.

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jo_bee's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Really enjoyed the mix of mystery and folklore, two students trying to get the bottom of a potential literature fraud. It's about author legacies, fairies and prejudices and the characters are quite lovable. I was even sold on the romance, which is hard to do. It becomes a bit tiring to constantly hear how beautiful Effy is, though since that is the point and she is also tired of hearing it I won't fault the writing for that.
The book begins a little awkward and it feels like one chapter is skipped entirely, there is a strange time jump between Effy getting a task and then being accepted right next chapter, where I would have liked to see her thought and work process, especially since it is something so personal to her. The big reveal was obvious to me in the first half, which made it a little frustrating that it drags on until the very end, especially since the two main characters are supposed to be two smart and well-read people.

It is especially strange in Effy's case, whose dream it is to be an author and who despises how men believe women are not capable of the eloquence and fantasy required to be one - strange then that even in a letter she rightfully deduces is written to a woman she already knows about and mentions "your main character" in it, she never once brings up the possibility that this very woman could be an author, until she is told at the very end by that same woman. There are hints that she doesn't dare to bring a specific theory up, which is probably this, but it is still strange that she specifically would not be more outspoken about it, especially towards Preston, who made it very clear that he hates these outdated beliefs on women. It also struck me as weird that she considered the main character of her favorite novel the villain for "betraying" her kidnapper, when she also mentions again and again how much she relates to her, though this could of course be part of her particular trauma.

At its very core it is a story about a girl finding the strength to realize how she has been wronged and how she can move on from that, dressed up in a mysterious fairytale setting, which made for a quick and enjoyable read.

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purplesapphire's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

Crimson Peak meets All The Murmuring Bones.

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hann_smc's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective 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

3.25

I really wanted to love it, but some things fell a little flat for me.
To start, I really did love the prose and the vibes. It was beautifully written, and the descriptions were poetic. It felt like the setting itself was another character.
It was pieces of the plot that I had more trouble with. Not even plot holes, just like "oh, that's it?" moments.
Reid really did a great job setting up for a fantastic story. I think the initial plot line of

the widow being the true author

was predictable just from the theme of

men exploiting women

that was established very early on. I genuinely don't think a predictable plot is a bad one though, and I had thought that Reid had created enough going on alongside this plot-line to really create a captivating story.
But then, nothing else really happened. There were some super interesting side plot setups:

Effy having some other worldly beauty to the point that even a random boy at the college was annoyed with her until he saw her face then promptly asked her out. Sirens and selkies were even mentioned throughout the story alongside with Effy being a changeling child, but nothing ever came of it.

The war was mentioned quite a bit, but always in passing, like it didn't actually affect anyone we knew. It seemed like the only purpose was for the Sleeper Museum to have a function, and/or for Effy to make vaguely racist comments to Preston when she was mad, but it felt very underdeveloped.

I did like that for awhile we're really not sure if Effy is crazy like everyone thinks or if the Fairy King is real, because even she isn't sure.
Some questions I do still have that people might be able to answer for me:
1.

Why didn't the widow talk to them at all? Why/How did she escape the hall without making a sound if she wasn't a ghost?

The random sex scene felt out of place. It felt less intimate and more like the precursor to a 3rd act breakup

Why was the estate guy so cagey? He was helping Preston one minute, but suspicious of them the next.

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