Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Furies, by Katie Lowe

3 reviews

chonkooch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

While this was very well written and thoroughly enjoyable I did have several issues with it. The descriptive writing is gorgeous and strangely homoerotic female friendships are very much my jam. I also was a big fan of the horror elements, delicious.

However at certain crucial points the writing style made it difficult to tell what was actually going on: for example,

Spoiler

when the dean was dying i was exceedingly confused

and also

Spoiler

when robin died i had to flip back and forth a few times because i didn't understand.

i'm not 100% that a boarding school was the right setting for this? the school element did feel a little underused and the segments with annabel giving speeches were definitely the weakest parts of the book. despite the heavy emphasis i can tell we're supposed to feel on female rage/revenge i actually feel the better parts of the book are the parts that center around the complex relationships between the girls. if it was more character study and a liiiittle bit less witchcraft i think it could've been great. i also think the ending is a little bit of a cop-out. i think the book Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas does a pretty good job of what i wish this book had done- that is, expose how insular and ingrown and fake the obsessive cult-like world of the girls is, and how this religion of girlhood-as-pain is, while very real, ultimately something you have to grow out of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Addiction, Injury/injury detail, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Sexism, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Vomit, Misogyny, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Rape

jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Violence

claudiagreen's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Gore