Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A estranha Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

33 reviews

disguisedposer's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Grief, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Violence

gigibaiao's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A deeply disturbing but unfortunately realistic book. Very interesting to read, but some moments were so horrific that they made me nauseous. Beware of triggers, as this book has many. I loved reading this book, but at the same time it made me sick. I felt anxious and sad about living in a reality where such sad things happen, and it made me cry. This book made me realise that thrillers on these subjects are not for me, even though they have a high literary quality. The author really took care to illustrate the places and people of certain nationalities accurately, and that impressed me positively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Physical abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Confinement

grimalkin7's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I may need botox after how much frowning I did! "Jesus Christ!" was also invoked quite frequently.

This book kept me engaged because of the constant plot twists and it  keept me guessing. Though odd, Sally became quite a loveable character and I thoroughly enjoyed her growth, but also her bluntness (my favourite quote being "Stop calling me a racist." "Stop being one."). It was heartwarming to see her friendships blossom and I was gutted reading how they all kind of fell apart at the end.

I was really rooting for Peter and was so disappointed when he turned out to be just like his dad, more or less. Hey, a kidnapper with morals is still a kidnapper!

The ending was a bit of a let down for me because I was optimistic it would be a happy one, but I suppose Liz didn't want it to be predictable.

With that said, this was one of the most captivating reads for me in a while. I could hardly put the book down because I just wanted to find out what happened next! Liz did a good job with those cliff hangers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Car accident, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Racism

hugsy85's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Mental illness

thenycbookwhore69's review against another edition

5.0

Def would recommend!!!! I loved Sally so much. This book was so interesting and I could have never anticipated the full plot of the book. I truly enjoyed reading Sally's journey and watching her come out of her shell. The ending had me a bit sad for Sally honestly, I feel like all her hard work went to shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Ableism, Self harm, Grief, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Suicide, and Pregnancy

nikki_jcf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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: Torture, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide, Racism, and Death of parent

emjay2021's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I went into this knowing next to nothing, just that it was recommended as a good thriller/mystery. It grabbed me from the first two paragraphs and I ended up reading it in less than 24 hours.

I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone else who wants to read it, so I’ll just say that I thought the first 90% was excellent but I did not like the ending.

I think what I didn’t like is that from the last letter to Sally from Angela, we are led to think OK, Sally will likely make a slow recovery and regain the community supports she had worked so hard to build; she’ll be OK-ish despite everything that transpired with her brother in the last few chapters. However, I wanted to SEE that recovery, not just be left thinking it would probably happen. I rarely feel I’m owed anything as a reader, but because I was so invested in Sally’s story and her hard-fought journey to happiness, I did feel I was owed that assurance. I wanted to see at least ONE reconciliation. A letter from Angela is a good start, but it’s one-sided and we don’t know how, or even if, Sally responds. That was what I wanted the author to end with.

However, even though I didn’t like the ending, the first 90% was so good I definitely don’t regret having read it.

This book is funny and touching but also highly disturbing. So, be warned.

First two paragraphs:

“Put me out with the trash,” he said regularly. “When I die, put me out with the trash. I’ll be dead, so I won’t know any different. You’ll be crying your eyes out,” and he would laugh and I’d laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out. I never cry.

When the time came, on Wednesday, 19th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden garbage bag.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Confinement, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Pedophilia, Grief, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

hatto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

finchybird's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Car accident, Confinement, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, and Body horror