Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

77 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

tense 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? Yes

3.0

2 stars + 1 star bump-up 

Main POV: 

• A married parent with the ‘perfect’ family. They are a wealthy philanthropist dedicated to cystic fibrosis awareness and funding. They seem open-minded, docile, spoiled, and naïve due to loneliness.
• A single adult in their 20s working in a real estate office while going for the long-con in a self-concocted scheme to infiltrate the philanthropist’s life, although we don’t know why. It could be revenge; it could be because they are completely unhinged.

 

Atmosphere 😒: Detached, uneasy, vindictive

• Set mostly in a wealthy suburb near Manhattan, NY

 

Cred Rating 🤪: OTT

• On the ‘juicy’ soap opera side of over-the-top. Not a story you want to go in overthinking or looking for meaningful commentary or symbolism from. 

 

Growls and Howls 🐺: 

• I don’t mind OTT, but the SLOW OTT is hard to pull off, so although it was an interesting plot in theory, it fell apart in execution for me. I think it could have benefitted from some cuts because the slowness wasn’t contributing to the story, it was stalling it out. We have the story delivered through overreliance on hold-backs (“If only they knew what I was about to do”), overly descriptive scenes about the clothing and appearances of everyone, and a lot of MC internal monologue that involves reminding the reader of a goal or thought we are already are familiar with because it was previously revealed to us…sometimes multiple times!
• There are some problematic tropes in this book, but I think that’s forgivable with OTT/soap opera type plots. It’s like angrily therapeutic. Someone plotting to steal your life and destroy you in the process? Wouldn’t it be nice to find out they self-destructed? Yes, we have women throwing themselves at a man’s feet, being toxic to other women, and using each other to further their own goals. However, this plot used severe physical, emotional, sexual, AND verbal abuse as a major revenge element. It felt icky. But, we also have stories glorifying female serial killers, so just go in to this one aware that it falls into that territory. 

 

Oops 🙃⭐️: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (April 26, 2022) is technically a retelling of this work (opinion varies as to whether it was plagiarism, inspiration, or coincidental). The plot and MCs are different between the two, but the plot devices are the same, hence why I would say re-telling (some of my fav books are, so it's not a dig). The main difference is Frieda McFadden’s work is not so deeply in the OTT realm and doesn't rely on the abuse as justice trope. Regardless of where you stand on the matter, The Last Mrs Parrish was first (Oct 17, 2017) and I recognize that I knew the plot elements going in because I read The Housemaid first, which diluted the twists for me. So, I’m going to rate this an extra star to account for that bias.

 

Reading Journey 🙄😬: Sitting through a play when you had high expectations for it. Slow, then repetitive, then even slower, then bam-bam-bam wrap-up. My applause is for finally getting to leave, not for the performance.  

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Juicy, behind closed doors domestic thriller
• B****, I’m gonna steal your life trope
• Slow, scheming, long-con sociopathic mind
• Guilty-pleasure soap opera revenge plots

 

Vibes: 😬😏😑

 

Content Heads-Up: Toxic friendships and relationships. Rape and sexual abuse (descriptive, on page). Physical, verbal, emotional abuse against spouses and children (on page). 

 

Format: Kindle Unlimited

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

Minor: Abandonment and Death of parent

Sexual violence, rape, assault etc are on page, repetitive, and occur within a marriage. Ableism refers to reading difficulties in a child

(dyslexia and stuttering)

involving refusal to get treatment and bullying by a parent. Also a parent supporting termination and abandonment of sick or disabled children. Fatphobia is by a male against female spouse to control/demean, female spouses going on extreme diets to gain his approval, and mothers expressing disgust with their bodies after childbirth. Abandonment refers to parental rejection

(father abandoning daughters in favour of his son

.

nisquah's review against another edition

Incorrect description of ASPD, then the further demonizing of those with ASPD and not just the evil character in the book. This isn't a "callout", it's a more personal thing for me. As someone with ASPD who learned cognitive empathy and has many fulfilling and genuine relationships, I just don't enjoy consuming media that speaks about the disorder in this generalizing and/or inaccurate way. There is always a chance that this is rectified later in the book, of course! But I just don't have the energy for it at the moment. I respect those who do!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Misogyny, Rape, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Alcohol and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Abortion, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

chelseamayxxx'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is such a weird book and so much happens in it that you don’t really understand the plot of the story or what’s happening that much as it’s told from 2 people. I figured out that the husband was a narcissist bully who hated against women and children if there were girls. The 1st part of the story she is so obsessed with the family that it gets too much to read and the 2nd part of the story she is too scared to leave her abusive husband so the story did match up towards the end of the last 30 pages I would so. But this story takes so many twists and turns that is hard to enjoy this book. I got half way and wanted to give up reading this book but I was too addictive to finding out what finally happens in the story that I kept reading it sadly. The characters I absolutely  hated them all though the book they were annoying and they kept moaning and winging about stuff that it gets too insufferable. Xxx

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Fatphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

pookiee's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

The Wife Between Us is a much better version of the same story; read that instead.

a lot of reviews mention plot twists, but I only read one (

that daphne finally realized what amber was up to and wanted her to ’steal’ her husband

). the rest is just a typical story and filling in of the details of the twist. really, the same events we read in pov1 are gone over in pov2 when we could easily assume 2’s thoughts, having found out the twist.

the writing is very bland; everything is “She did this. Then, she did that.” with no interesting figurative language. the simplicity makes it easy to speed through the book at least.

the characters are supremely boring, too. it’s crystal clear whom readers are supposed to root for/against and these people have no life outside of being virtuous/villainous and rich/poor. 

the pov in part i is exhaustingly bitter and part ii is filled with tactless descriptions of abuse just to have us pity one chara and hate the other even more. this is not a deeply psychological book or character study, it’s emotional manipulation with total caricatures and major, laughable plot conveniences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Chronic illness, Infertility, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Rape, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Body shaming

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Child abuse

Minor: Blood

nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Abortion, and Chronic illness

danielle_is_reading's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Violence, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Domestic abuse

lynchca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, and Death

lizwarnerr'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? Yes

3.0

*This review is a complete spoiler and synopsis. The spoiler tags won’t let me put it all in a spoiler*

When I first started this book, I hated it. I hated amber, the main character. She was trying to con her way into marrying a powerful man because she had had such a bad life, which is an overdone trope IMO. She connects with his wife and instantly becomes her friend and weens her way into their family. I thought her plans for making her way into their lives and getting this man to succumb for her were working too easily, and I was annoyed because that’s not how it would’ve worked in real life.

And then we get to the second part of the book where daphne, the wife, recounts everything that happened. And it starts to click. She’s conning a con woman. She figures out that Amber is conning her, and she starts to formulate a way for both her and Amber to get what they want. Daphne has desperately wanted to leave - the husband is a sociopath. He’s mentally, physically, and emotionally abusive, but has her trapped in the relationship. 

The last part of the book plays side by sides of amber and Daphne’s POVs. We get to see it play out of how Amber thinks she’s won when the husband decides to divorce Daphne because she’s finally giving the son he’s always wanted. Daphne is excited because she gets enough money out of the settlement to have trusts for the girls and can escape from him forever. 

We think we’ll end on this and we expect that Amber is going to find out it’s not all roses and diamonds. But instead, Daphne gives the info to the husband that Amber is conning him and had a plant in his company so he’s also going to jail for tax fraud. And then Amber is also stuck in this relationship that is as bad as how Daphne was living because he knows her secret and will turn her to police if she tries to leave. And Daphne finally gets to escape that life. 

I initially thought I would give this 2-3 stars because of how much I hated the characters. And then it got interesting from Daphne’s POV and I was ready to give it 5 stars. But as other reviewers have mentioned, the idea that domestic abuse is “punishment” for this woman’s actions is a bit unsettling. I think things could’ve been different. It is a book, and you feel the sense of relief and vengeance after reading, but I’m not sure it’s the best message. I’m still unsure on how I feel about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Ableism, Abortion, and Domestic abuse

crystal83087's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism

mackennac's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Stalking, Infertility, Abortion, and Slavery