Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Yes, Daddy

I really enjoyed this book, it was heart-wrenching and emotional. My perspective on Jonah shifted a few times throughout the book, but at the end I was happy he finally got an ending that felt suited to him.
Although while reading it I could help but think about how a major plot point was basically a stolen Seinfeld plot

Content Warnings

arbramirez's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

dalmavatai's review against another edition

Go to review page

Ah I usually don't dnf books this far into them but I'm just really not feeling this one. The idea behind the story is really solid: exploring the power dynamics between wealthy, successful, older gay men and young, aspiring, broke gay men and the exploitation and abuse that can happen within those relationships.

However, I think this book is just poorly executed. The characters and the relationships are not developed well enough for me to believe in them, and the dynamics of an abusive relationship are equally poorly written. It feels like the author read a blog post about Abuse 101 and clumsily inserted every point at random intervals throughout the story. Like, all the dynamics - Jonah gaslighting himself and his experience of abuse, Richard compensating with meaningless shopping sprees after something bad happens - feel disingenuous, insincere; I just wasn't convinced by the author that these characters and relationships are real. They feel very one-dimensional, pawns to illustrate the author's point but lacking in development and depth.

This is really my main issue with the story but I also wanted to mention that of course it's really important to shed light on how old men can coerce younger men into playing out their BDSM fantasies - but BDSM is not inherently abusive. I think Jonah's daddy issues stemming from his homophobic father and wanting to please both him and God in his deeply Christian family is really interesting and will no doubt resonate with a lot of people's experience, but I think it's important to note that wanting to be dominated in sex is not inherently 'pathological', and even if it stems from mommy/daddy issues, it's still a valid sexual preference and people can engage in BDSM and have it be a healthy dynamic (that doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't interrogate cultural trends around daddy issues, but it does mean that we shouldn't pathologize individuals with these sexual preferences because that doesn't help anyone).

Also, if you still want to read this book, please please look into trigger warnings, this book covers very heavy subjects and all the things I listed under 'graphic' content warnings are indeed EXTREMELY graphic.

Content Warnings

foxmulders's review

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.75

Content Warnings

kwarnimont's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

This was a hard read. 100% check the content warnings before giving it a go. I thought it was well written and (unfortunately) very easy to visualize what's going on. Tons of great conversation about consent and classism that unfortunately didn't have a satisfying ending. Just heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak.

Content Warnings

shereadytoread's review

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

1.5

Where this book really failed me was the classification as a "thriller" and in some places I've seen it categorized as "an erotic thriller". This book is a very specific delve into conversion therapy, sexual explotation of poor gay men, and conflicting religious beliefs.

First trigger warnings: this book is FILLED and very frequent sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse. I would estimate there was 1.5/10+ sexual scenes that were openly consensual. It is the premise of almost the entire story. There is also exploration of conversion therapy, homophobic families/churches and financial abuse.

Those trigger warnings are why this story being marketed as a "thriller" is completely wrong to me. This book very explicitly explores how a man uses financial abuse to entrap a man that has already been sexually abused in the past. Nothing about this is "thrilling". There are no plot twists. It is a straightforward horrific story. There was nothing I didn't expect and spent time trying to figure out, other than how this terrible abuse would be resolved. I'm not sure how any of this is "thrilling". It is compelling, gritty, and it is fast-paced. I read it in one sitting (partially because if I put it down, I doubt I would have picked it up again). It makes callbacks to #MeToo in some ways I won't really explain because they are spoilers, but I think it missed the mark.

Disclaimer: I received a free finished copy from the publisher.

Content Warnings

jessicamarie's review

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

bluehairedlibrarian's review

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm still not sure how to feel about this book. It wasn't what I was expecting, and the foundation of the entire story is queer trauma. At times I felt like it leaned on negative tropes used to condemn gay men in the not-so-distant past, but at the same time, queer authors should be able to write about anything. In this book, the author explores the types of horrors that can come from a relationship that not only has a large age gap between partners, but also a large gap in authority and power.

With that said, this book is dark and traumatic, but the writing quality kept me reading despite the horrors on the page. Jonah is a compelling narrator and I sympathized with him while also thinking he was a complete idiot at times. The situations he got himself into could be excused by his naivete and Midwestern religious upbringing, but at the same time, he was incredibly naïve. He's also a very unreliable narrator, but I liked the framework that is revealed later on in the book. I thought it a bit strange for it suddenly to revolve around his non-relationship with a side character, and the ending felt strange and little forced.

I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I don't regret finishing it either. It's difficult and does not fall under the Gothic Horror trope at all. It's a difficult read, but a mostly well-written one.

Content Warnings

More...