Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

9 reviews

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I went back and forth with my feeling on this book and ultimately I think I liked it. I did read Jane Eyre a long time ago and I remember enjoying so I do come in with that background (I could see how some people who have not read Jane Eyre might not enjoy this. They are parallels with this having a modern twist). I always thought Bertha was done dirty in the original so I was excited for this read. That being said this book was not what I expected but it wasn’t bad.

I have to admit I did find Jane to be quite annoying from the beginning. She was complaining a lot and it was rough (I did remember that in the original). She got better as the book went on and you start to root for her some. She’s smart, brave, and tenacious and just had a string of horrible things happen to her which kind of explain how she is currently. I like the parallels between Bea and Jane.

I was a bit bummed at first that Bea was actually the villain I wanted justice for Bertha but I’m not mad with the way it ended. I like that Jane and Bertha got better in this novel than the original and it did feel like the right ending.

This definitely wasn’t a bad read just not what I was expecting. For the most part I enjoyed it and I loved the way Hawkins modernized the world and characters of Jane Eyre. It fit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Drug abuse

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Suicide

medini_l's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, Abandonment, Classism, Infidelity, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

kimmy0__0's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

Fun and fast-paced retelling of Jane Eyre. Good beach read or palate cleanser for heavier novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Murder, Vomit, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, and Mental illness

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

First read - DNF: I am not going to like Jane. She is so snarky and sarcastic and caustic and that will not be fun.
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I revisited this one because I was reading other things by the author, and I thought that I should give it another shot. I tend to be much too precious about Jane Eyre retellings haha I thought this was pretty fun in the end. It didn't try to stick too closely to the book, which I appreciated. Not at all bad, in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Sexual content

bash5617's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cursing, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

navayiota's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

A really enjoyable and engaging read! I loved all the plot twists and secrets, and the way the characters interacted and thought. Maybe I liked it cause it was so obviously inspired by Jane Eyre, one of my favourite books ever, although I didn't notice the similarities at first. I wish we could have learned a little more about Eddie and Jane's pasts, but I was really satisfied with the amount of backstory Bee got. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Grief, and Medical content

kaitlynk_thatpageturninglife's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

 - I almost never read thrillers, especially the subgenre of Wife this and Wife that thrillers. But I made an exception for THE WIFE UPSTAIRS because it's a retelling of one of my favorite classic novels - JANE EYRE.
- And am I glad I did! I tore through it in less than a day. THE WIFE UPSTAIRS is pure book candy - rich people behaving badly, a young woman escaping a dark past, murder most foul, etc.
- You definitely don't need to have read JANE EYRE to enjoy this book, but if you have, you'll spot some delightful callbacks in the names and details. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence