Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

8 reviews

courtknee_bee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars, rounded up

This is one of those "every marriage is awful in it's own way" kind of books. (Cannot relate.) I've labeled it as a mystery-thriller, but it's really more of a domestic drama with a little dash of whodunit to keep things interesting. I also read The Push by Ashley Audrain, and The Whispers feels like its spiritual successor. Audrain gives her characters such depth and nuance, even if they're "bad" people.

Just like The Push, this one also ends with a big "OMG" last sentence. I find this kind of ending lazy, but it's fun! 

Extreme trigger warnings for fertility issues, pregnancy loss, etc.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child abuse, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Mental illness and Medical content

Minor: Cancer and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

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

ariana3's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was way better than I expected! I read it really quickly and enjoyed it more than I anticipated. When you think about it, the plot isn't very deep or complex, but the way the author tells the stories about these families in the neighborhood just sucked me in. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the moms/neighbors.
Plot summary:

Four families live on this one street - 3 are friends and one is an OG outcast house that others are waiting to tear down and buy the land to build a new house. One family has the aesthetically pleasing wife with a powerhouse job, but she's a terrible mother with anger problems. This wife, Whitney's, best friend across the street is Blair. Blair is the perfect wife, turning a blind eye to her husband's obviously wandering eyes, and perfect mother to their daughter. Whitney and Blair envy each other, but Blair is unaware of Whitney's envy of Blair being the perfect mother. The 3rd family - Rebecca lives in the neighborhood, picture-perfect marriage and intense job of ER doctor. She desperately wants kids but has had 5 miscarriages. Whitney's oldest son and most challenging (to her) child falls from his 3rd story window. The book delves into what may have happened. In a nutshell- Blair thinks her husband is having an affair with Whitney. He's not, but he is a cheater that she just stays ignorant to. Whitney is a huge cheater, just to feel like she isn't trapped in her life of being a mom when she doesn't want to be. So a twist is that she isn't having an affair with Blair's husband, but with Rebecca's husband!!!! The supposedly sweet, kind, doting, affectionate husband! Whitney's son saw them having some wild sex on the patio one night, he yelled out for them to stop, and he fell out of his window. Whitney and her son had an argument that night so everyone, including her husband, thought that Whitney had pushed him because she can have explosive angry moments. In the Epilogue, her son is awake and fine and alive. She's desperate to show him she's still around and she didn't leave like she threatened before he fell out the window. He agrees to talk, it's a super tender moment. Bringing the book to a happy ending. Then basically the last line is the son saying "what will happen to you when I tell everyone what you did." 🎤⬇️ If I was a mom I feel like this would break my heart. But since I'm not, this feels perfectly calculated, cruel as only kids could be, and definitely not what i expected!!!!!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Infertility

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Grief, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Abandonment, Self harm, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kshertz's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

Wow. It’s the drama of the suburbs. Infidelity and raising children. The moms clubs. All the secrets finally being revealed. It kept me hooked and I thought it was fascinating. Whitney’s twins magically disappearing was a plot hole And the only reason it’s not 5 stars! 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Infidelity

scottsmom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

kaylameaux's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Infertility, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, and Abandonment

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

I’m gonna rate this how I did “The Push”, as I loved it just as much as her debut. The only thing keeping me from 5 stars is the both of them having very quick endings. 

WOW!!! An incredibly fascinating second novel from Ashley Audrain. I was immediately invested in the deep tangle of suburban domesticity between the three families at the helm of this story, and even the fourth family’s insights sprinkled throughout. Audrain commands your attention with every page, every insane detail that feels hot in your hands, like juicy but disturbing neighborhood  gossip you’re only so lucky to be privy too. Like you are one of the periphery moms, whispering about only the surface of the twisted, mangled iceberg. 

This is as much a novel about marriages and parent-child relationships under pressure as it is a novel of suspense. Which is to say, this isn’t exactly a thriller, but very much so an intense domestic drama that leaves you clutching at your pearls, as they say, as the characters’ lives unravel. A child in a coma, due to mysterious circumstances. His parents, his neighbors, none of them quite who they seem. Rumors everywhere. Lies as abundant as a cup full of sugar. 

I throughly enjoyed this one. I loved the intensity, the explicitness, the shock, every character interwoven into another in the most unexpected ways. This is a deliciously spiraling novel that makes you think a whole lot about the lives of those acquaintances around you that may be entirely different from what you only see from the end of the driveway. Or overheard from an open window…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Cursing, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Alcohol, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

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. 

---

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