Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

28 reviews

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.0

It's fun to read, and the genre is full of works that are great atmosphere 90% of the way through and then don't stick the landing. If you just want spooky eeriness, it's not a bad choice. It's just ultimately got nothing it's actually about. The setup seems to promise a situation where lots of cliche genre stuff seems to be true, and then the big twist is all the cliche stuff is in fact true, just obfuscated. It's definitely going for twisty and intricate, but a twist and just changing the story partway through aren't really the same thing. Exactly the sort of book I think ought to have a warning sticker you can optionally peek under so you can know before you get invested if the supernatural is just a bad metaphor. When the big reveal is nothing interesting has really happened, then it's hard to care about what comes before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

I don’t really know what to even rate this book. Or what I read. Or if I liked it. The book is one big mind fuck. You can never guess what’s going to happen. Then you’re mad about all the tricks the author is playing on you. But you’re kind of like, “yeah that was a good one.” So who knows? Try it out if you want something unlike anything else you’ve read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Child death, Violence, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

honeywine's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Torture, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

mlewis's review against another edition

I want to come back to this later to write it up more completely, but the short answer is that I grew impatient with the narrators

being clearly a single entity with disassociative identity disorder</>, despite their richness overall. I felt less propelled as the story progressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Grief, Medical content, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Self harm

Minor: Classism and Fatphobia

tati_jurisic's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Torture, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Self harm, and Gaslighting

kbergsten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

libraryofdoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-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

5.0

How to talk about this book without spoilers? What I can say is it’s absolutely fantastic, harrowing and packs a heavy punch.

The premise is that a woman moves to a street where the man who she believes abducted her younger sister 11 years ago lives. The novel is both about that and absolutely not about that (I know, frustrating when you’re trying to decide whether to read it). I definitely advise reading the trigger warnings and going in somewhat prepared. If you like mental health rep, unreliable narrators and horror that makes you think, this is for you.

I need to reread this ASAP, knowing what was going on, so that I can pick out the inner and outer world parts. I will also be looking for reviews from people with DID to see how well the novel portrays it, as while I have a trauma-based dissociative disorder and have engaged previously with a lot of the content listed in the bibliography, I don’t have any form of DID and I therefore can’t speak on the representation. To me, it was fantastic and so, so sad. Amazing to see a novel use characters with these disorders and not have them be a villain. I feel this book really encourages the reader to question their worldview and view on mental health, and the afterword has me sobbing even now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

 Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm having trouble writing down my thoughts, so I'll make this one short and cut to the chase.

THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is taut and stressful in the best ways. While I thought the characters were fantastic and the connections ultimately ended up satisfying, there was something lacking for me. I can't figure out what it was, because there's so much to unpack in this novel.

Damn, I can't even go into details without spoilers! Just...do yourself a favor and go read this. It's good, don't worry. It's really good. It held me until I had to wrest its talons out of my face, so have no fear about keeping your attention.

The most upsetting thing about the book was that messed up shit like this really happens, and that children can be cruel and indifferent. Will I buy this for my own library? Yeah, I think I will. I need to go into a physical copy with a pencil and some highlighters. The suitcase has not yet been cracked open.

SPOILERY THING HERE:
I really appreciated the representation of DID here. I had a close friend a long time ago who suffered from it, and this was the most compassionate representation I've seen so far. And I REALLY liked that it wasn't a villain trope, because if there's one thing that pisses me right off, it's mental illness being used as a fulcrum for villainry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Kidnapping