Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

14 reviews

alxjasper's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A beautifully written gothic horror. Some plot points were prredictable but the sense of tension and horror was well maintained throughout.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Medical trauma, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, War, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, and Gaslighting

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this book until about 4/5 of the way through, when it delved into

the details of Jane’s magic rituals and mathematical theories.

Until that point, the book thoroughly held my interest and the pacing felt well-suited to the plot. My interest really dipped during the 80-86% part of the book, but did gradually return after that.

The ending was layered, a bit surprising, and intriguing.

It wasn’t a true happy ending, but it was mostly hopeful.

I felt that the ending redeemed the book overall. The main characters and their relationship were compelling, and I found myself really rooting for them.  I especially loved that Jane’s autism is portrayed so lovingly and as the superpower that it is. There isn’t nearly enough autism representation in literature, and the horror genre is no exception, so Jane is a breath of fresh air. (Jane’s autism is alluded to—and not directly described, but the author confirmed this fact!)

I may not revisit this book, but I’d happily read more work from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Blood, Miscarriage, Gore, Body horror, Death, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Terminal illness, Self harm, Child death, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Vomit, War, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Abandonment, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Sexual content

buildingtaste's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.75

From the first chapter, I always felt like this book was not quite telling me everything I needed to know. Since the setting is an alternate England, I would have expected more direct exposition about the things that make it meaningfully different, and also for these differences to have an impact on the story. As it was, we were soon locked in a country house, fundamentally indistinguishable from an English house (except of course for

the haunted basement

. Though having never stayed in an English country house I guess I can't be sure). Simply setting this novel in a more familiar country, even if in a fictional town or county, would have made this experience much more grounded and improved the contrast of familiar and unfamiliar once things got really weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, Torture, Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Forced institutionalization

As a gothic horror novel, Jane Lawrence comes in fast with explicit gore. Elements of the magic system involve having something affecting a person's organs/moving inside their body, which

the protagonist

describes experiencing in detail.

gayghostprince's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, War, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

morbidanatomy's review

dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Gore, Vomit, Abortion, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, War, and Child death

Minor: Forced institutionalization

junowo's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and War

renyoi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Body horror, Medical content, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, War, and Forced institutionalization

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Overall I really enjoyed the book. However, I can’t give it a 5 because it dragged on toward the later third of the book. Big plot pieces had happened so soon and it seemed as if things weren’t coming together at a comfortable pace. Parts really dragged on and others seemed to skip right over. Perhaps this is to wrap us into the mind of Jane? Even so, I was hoping for either a quicker wrap up or more of a build up until we got to bigger plot points. Lastly, I *know* it’s how the character is, but toward the end I was really on the fence if I cared about Jane or not.

Yes, it’s the madness making her drawn to the magic and wanting to dive back in. But it felt shallow and I wanted more from her and from those around her

8/27/23:
Overall I really loved the book and will probably reread again in the future but I wish the ending wasn’t so slippery and I actually had something concrete to hold onto. Butttttttttt, I do love a messy and weird ending for the sole purpose of making you feel how the world felt so I can’t be too mad about it. 3.5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, and Death of parent

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I liked the gothic horror aesthetics that it brought, but as I read further, the story felt jumbled. There were ghosts, magic, math,

attempted necromancy, a dash of alchemy, and a time paradox thrown in?

I could get down with a lot of the book but parts kind of felt like the author just wanted to throw some things in for the hell of it. 
I would kind of agree with people saying this was all vibes and no real substance. Like if you liked Crimson Peak, this book gives a very similar feel. Yes it touches on guilt/shame, PTSD, and grief, but it was kind of sprinkled on top of a lot of nothing and a lot of everything at the same time. A slow read in many parts, where some of it dragged on and on but in the book's timeline it hadn't even been a month. Jane as the mc was interesting at first, like yes brainy independent person!, but devolved quickly into a lovestruck, dependent person in less than a week. With how she was described in some parts of the book though, it made me think she was neurodivergent/neurodiverse (super into a special interest, had difficulty in social gatherings like it mentioned she had trouble with small talk and eye contact "she had taught herself to make eye contact and to handle small talk, and how to smooth over how indelibly odd she was", she was uncomfortable among the crowd at her marriage, etc) which was cool. She had potential but in the end was lacking in a lot of aspects for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Confinement, Death, Vomit, Drug use, Blood, Chronic illness, Gore, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

odrib's review

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Drug use, and Child death

Minor: War and Forced institutionalization