Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

39 reviews

luizamjc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Ok, so I started this book thinking I was not going to like it. The story seemed interesting, but it is a bit complicated when autistic people are represented by a (as far as I know) non-autistic author. And Fern’s descriptions in the beginning seem a bit problematic. But then this changes throughout the book while you figure things out and understand what’s really happening there. I didn’t think the plot was predictable like I’ve seen some people saying. I mean, it was to a certain extent, but the details still surprised me, and even though I had generally figured out what had happened, once I hit like the 200th page I literally could not stop reading cause I needed to know the details and what was going to happen. Fern and Wally are very loveable characters and their love really made me emotional. I loved the ending. However, I do think that it might contain some problematic representation of some mental illnesses that could be harmful to the people who have them. I think the part of Rose’s presumed diagnosis could’ve been left out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility and Vomit

one character who is portrayed as a very bad person and has killed people is said to possibly have borderline personality disorder, which I think might be triggering if you have it

annaka's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

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

2.5

I really struggled with this book as I almost always do when someone writes books regarding mental illness but is not a professional in the field. I believe that the way she portrayed the characters could be harmful to the disorders she claims or alluded that they have. Also the "twist" was entirely predictable from very early on and so there was no interesting moment of reveal or mystery to this book for me. I enjoyed reading a book set in Australia (where I'm currently living) and there was a cute side plot story line I enjoyed but overall I wouldn't recommend picking this book up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Medical trauma and Death of parent

ksanderss's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

jendif's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

This was very engaging, and I was curious about the portrayal of autism or at least someone being very sensitive to sensory things. I would read this author again - I thought the format was very interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

Huge, huge content warning about pregnancy

wylda_bee's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Infertility, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

adoesetfree's review against another edition

dark funny sad tense fast-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

5.0

I'll be honest, I didn't expect to care about this book at all. I figured it'd be yet another lukewarm domestic thriller with characters that frustrated me to no end. But here I am, having loved it entirely and now rated it five stars!! I loved this book. I loved Fern! I thought the author did an excellent job of establishing a false sense of security (for lack of a better term), and then slowly chipping away at that security, one ominous, distressing interaction between the sisters at a time. I felt a lot of dread reading this book, which is a great thing to feel when reading a thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

bitesizedbeet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

thatonecatmom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent

keijiwolf's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Abortion