Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Echo Wife: A dark, fast-paced unsettling domestic thriller by Sarah Gailey

28 reviews

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Not a book I think I could re-read without the thrill of discovery. Made me question what it means to be human.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Blood, and Confinement

escapinginpaper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Body horror, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcohol

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

A very clever novel about cloning and the possibility of creating the perfect spouse, this book deals a lot with emotional abuse and unrealistic expectations that shape a person the rest of their life. 

Evelyn, a newly divorced cloning genius, is so absorbed with her work that she has no room for anything else. Her marriage fell apart because her husband Nathan wanted a “better” Evelyn so he created one and got rid of the first wife. 

Evelyn and the replacement wife, the clone Martine, come to be friends of a sort, brought together by their mutual fury at Nathan for being so demanding and irresolute. The gradual development of their relationship, and Evelyn’s growing appreciation for the complexity of the clone’s personality, is one of the more enjoyable parts of the book. 

There were some pretty large plot holes - one, for instance, is how it was that none of the lab workers noticed Evelyn’s new coworker? Aside from that, I thought the book was very thought-provoking, a sign of a great story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

jojo_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion

adamjeffson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexism, Physical abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Abortion

nyoom's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

0.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content

annir's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Gore

Minor: Suicide, Miscarriage, Medical content, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Confinement

junkyard's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Violence

emptychurches's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Misogyny, and Vomit

marlinspirkhall's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I tore through this book in 3 days and absolutely loved it. It's not quite as dark as some reviews may make it seem, but it does deal with some rather heavy subject matter in a mature and sober manner.

I wrote down a few thoughts as I began reading the book, but found it so engrossing that I didn't take detailed notes. It was fantastic, and I can't wait to reread it at some point. For now, it will be on-loan to a friend until they finish it.

You always hear writing advice which suggests you should hook the reader with the first paragraph, which Gailey does effortlessly.

"My gown was beautiful. It was the kind of garment that looks precisely as expensive as it is. I did not hate it, because it was beautiful, and I did not love it, because it was cruel. I wore it because wearing it was the thing the night demanded of me."

Gailey has a wonderful way of using words, which makes me rethink the often-underutilised potential of the English language. It's always just succinct enough that it never crosses into the territory of purple prose. 

"Her voice was high, light, warm. Nonthreatening. Hearing it was like swallowing a cheekful of venom."

- page 29

"But somehow Nathan- Nathan, the coward, the failure, who had abandoned industry for academia nearly a decade before, who shouldn't have been able to approach the level of work I was doing- somehow, Nathan had found a way to undermine that principle. To undermine *my* principles."

Page 55:

Page 55: "when I got to the kitchen, Nathan was still dead"

Me, out loud: wait, what?!

Fucking good plot twist, fucking well done.

"People always brought up the idea of feeding

bodies

to pigs, as if there were pig farms around every goddamn corner."

Thank you, Gailey. There's an entire tumblr thread out there, to which I will be using this quote as a "gotcha". 

The way that Gailey imbues several tropes into their work is skillfully done, too. Many reviews said they transformed the "cheating spouse" trope with a sci-fi twist, but, really, this book was about generational abuse. How it echoes down through your family and sets its roots in you, and makes you wonder fi you're going to internalise and repeat the pattern too... Which is why it's so cathartic when the book ends with:

"I'm not a monster.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Body Horror:

One of the "failed clones" which is buried in the back yard has a "spiral mandible" which is described in detail. Murder:

Nathan attacks Martine and she kills him in self-defense. It is later revealed he was trying to murder her, in addition to his plans to murder Evelyn. Oh, and he also has the bodies of 12 "failed" clones in the back yard. 11 of these are "growth rate" failures, and appear to have died on their own, but one body- the final one- was "perfect". The only thing he appears to have objected to was her personality.

Sexism, Misogyny: Nathan "designs" Martine to be docile and obedient. "He stammered his way through it, an entirely unreasonable request. One that was based in his constant certainty that I would, someday, change my mind about wanting children. He had always acted as though my decision not to have a baby were a temporary lapse, a delay. He had always assumed that all women came with an innate understanding of and desire for children- at least, the old Nathan had-

and so it was not a surprise to me when he asked if I would help him raise Violet."

Suicide:

In order to allow Martine to live a life free from Nathan 2, Evelyn and Martine dig up the body of a clone, and pose her in the wardrobe as if she has hanged herself. It could be an upsetting scene to some readers.

This also leads to (Abandonment):

a description of them leaving baby Violet behind, which made me burst into tears. However, thankfully, she is reunited with her mother later.

Domestic abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse: This is made explicit in the narrative without *being* explicit- we see that Evelyn and her mother fear her father, and it is strongly hinted that

he broke Evelyn's wrist when she was nine years old. He also feels no remorse for this, and rolls his eyes when he sees that her arm is in a cast.

Child abuse: In addition to the above,

Evelyn's father switches between being outright neglectful of her and smothering her with his expectations and rules. He also grabs her face roughly when she is only six years old. Her mother trains her how to sneak around the house without making the stairs creak so that she doesn't wake her father. She is regularly seen running away from her father in flashbacks. She resents her mother, in part, and fears becoming her father while still respecting him.