Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

22 reviews

dontwritedown's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

1.75

.....honestly it's books like the Twilight series that normalized gaslighting in relationships and abusive relationships and I blame that for the widespread bad relationship decisions this generation has.

Especially when it comes to Jacob. I kinda touched on this with my review of New Moon, but Meyer really just hammers in a lot of toxic Native traits that just make me go ick. And the fact that she makes Leah the most annoying charcter when Leah should be one of the most sympathetic characters in this universe.

And I don't why it wasn't super obvious before BookTok that Meyer was a Mormon but omg, listening to this on audiobook and having an hour of purity culture drivel is mindnumbing. 

Sidenote: if you want to feel pure anger, listen to like the last fourth of the book stuck in Bay Area rush hour traffic while hangry. It just makes you want to crash your car.

Why am I continuing this series? Are the nostalgia points worth just absolutely shredding the logistics of the Lochness Monster in the next book?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, Gaslighting, Child death, Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

gurnoor's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

ashleylowry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Self harm

linnylionheart's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual content and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual violence, Torture, Rape, Sexual harassment, Death, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship

merah's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity and Self harm

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

mmefish's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

1.0

I read only 70% of this book but I’m marking it as “read” because I deserve it.
I was enjoying my daily dose of cringe up until page 260 where Jacob not only gaslights Bella into thinking that she wants to be with him romantically but sexually assaults her: he kisses her forcefully (right after she tells him that he’s like family to her), holds her so she can’t move a muscle and ignores all of her attempts to break free. It was incredible uncomfortable to read how she “stopped fighting, went limp and waited for him to stop, not feeling anything”. After that Jacob says that Bella definitely should have liked kissing him, jokes around and just in general acts like a douchebag. Then CHARLIE joins in and doesn’t see anything wrong with Jacob assaulting his daughter??!! It’s like Meyer decided to ruin all the likeable characters at once.
I’m used to Edward being a creep and controlling - he was like that from the beginning. It’s not redeemable in any way but I got over it after book 1. Sexual assault, however, is something new entirely. It’s written in a way so not one character makes a big deal out of it and Bella forgives Jacob (of course) after a day or so. Disgusting, really. Not only “Eclipse” is already incredibly boring, but after that chapter I could not make myself read much more. 
Oh yeah, and we get a glimpse of imprinting: a “lovely” scene with a grown ass man and a TODDLER. 🤮

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism

irahann's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.0

I HATED Jacob so much

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

elysh_kaye's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

3.0

 This book contains some of the most toxic men I have ever read, I guess that's largely down to me largely reading women but still!!

Edward: codependency, manipulative, you know the vibes
Jacob: (TW) assaults Bella twice, and she still feels guilty?

Also, I had this problem with New Moon, and I know I should expect the best writing from Twilight. But the referencing and "foreshadowing" is so heavy handed it really irritates me. Why does Stephanie have to remind us every few pages that there is parallels to Wuthering Heights (and previously Romeo and Juliet), I'm not that dumb I can understand what you're trying to do!!

This is the same with the legend of the third-wife. I think it would have been so much better if we didn't have Bella telling us every five seconds that she was going to try and do what the third-wife had done. I think it should have been just the legend being told to her and then reference it after Bella does it, or as/immediately before.

But hey, it's just Twilight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting