Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

5 reviews

sugarlife's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Death, and Vomit

onion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Child death, Alcohol, Bullying, and Abandonment

Minor: Blood

mysterymom40's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Racism

graphic sexual scenes or thoughts; child sees parent having graphic sex with someone; descriptions of miscarriage is very detailed, both physically and psychologically; child living with neurodiversity is severely bullied by a parent; tragic scene of death related to an airplane ride; thoughts of harming a child; attempt to harm a child in a medical setting

laurenabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was unfortunately a major miss for me. The non-linear timeline, the focus being on the most unredeemable characters, and the predictability of the ending truly disappointed me. 

I won’t go into a summary, but while I find this book to be raw and insightful, I didn’t find it especially well written or constructed. There are too many voices, too many timelines, too many unnecessarily jarring scenes that come off gratuitous for shock value. If the book is about womanhood and how hard it is, about motherhood and what defines it, about escaping what we thought we wanted for what we think we can live with… I understand the purpose of the book but found it poorly executed. 

Whitney and Blair are both monstrous, the husbands are all unfit, and the kids are uniformly forsaken for their parents’ petty whims. 

The ending was predictable and no one emerges from the text unscathed. So what was the point? What I’m sure started off as a character study ended up being more of a grueling race to the finish, which is actually where the story begins. 

I’m befuddled and let down, frankly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Moderate: Self harm, Abortion, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment, Murder, and Gaslighting

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Emotional abuse