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Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'
The Echo Wife: A dark, fast-paced unsettling domestic thriller by Sarah Gailey
100 reviews
morag's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is a bit of an acquired taste, and I'm not sure that I acquired it by the end. If you love reading books with horrible main characters you are meant to hate, you'll love this. If not, this is going to be upsetting from start to finish.
I do think this book is relatively successful at what it sets out to do. It explores cycles of abuse, misogyny (both external and internal), and, obviously, the ethics of cloning. Martine's storyline really pulled me in, and every revelation about what her life was like got me more and more invested. The place she ended up in by the end still sticks with me. I wanted to pry the book open, pull her out of it, and weld the door shut after her. That speaks volumes for the effectiveness of Gailey's writing.
That being said, the main character, Evelyn, is written as a cold, uncaring asshole, and that is done so effectively that it makes the novel hard to read. If you need your main characters to be even remotely likable or empathetic, you will not like this one. I do understand that Evelyn is intended to be this way, but on a personal level, it was just too much. I couldn't stomach a second read of this.
Overall, this is a brutal examination of misogyny, abuse, and personhood. It won't be for everyone, but if you're ready for a tough read, it'll deliver.
I do think this book is relatively successful at what it sets out to do. It explores cycles of abuse, misogyny (both external and internal), and, obviously, the ethics of cloning. Martine's storyline really pulled me in, and every revelation about what her life was like got me more and more invested. The place she ended up in by the end still sticks with me. I wanted to pry the book open, pull her out of it, and weld the door shut after her. That speaks volumes for the effectiveness of Gailey's writing.
That being said, the main character, Evelyn, is written as a cold, uncaring asshole, and that is done so effectively that it makes the novel hard to read. If you need your main characters to be even remotely likable or empathetic, you will not like this one. I do understand that Evelyn is intended to be this way, but on a personal level, it was just too much. I couldn't stomach a second read of this.
Overall, this is a brutal examination of misogyny, abuse, and personhood. It won't be for everyone, but if you're ready for a tough read, it'll deliver.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Child abuse
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, and Medical trauma
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy, Violence, Misogyny, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Infertility, Abortion, Vomit, and Car accident
rockyc5's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
3.75
Other than that I thought I had better ideas of what to do to solve the problems the characters faced than what they came up with, THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. I think it's fair to say it's totally unique even as books about clones multiply.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Minor: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide
jeannette_m's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Child abuse and Suicide
puffinthedog's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Speaking as someone who is still unlearning the things I was taught throughout childhood and multiple abusive relationships- The Echo Wife was a heartbreaking novel of how childhood abuse and interpersonal violence strip people of their will and leaves them unsure who is making the choices for them, even in their own heads. If you don’t have a history of psychological abuse, perhaps it can be read as a book questioning the ethics of cloning, and with that framework I can’t tell you how good a story this is if that’s what you’re looking for. I have no idea how plausible the science is that backs the plot. But as someone who identified with Martine this story made me see things in myself that I knew were there and made me look directly at them in broad daylight in a way that, maybe for the first time, allowed me to really feel sad for myself and angry at my own Nathans (and Evelyns).
I don’t know if this book is a masterpiece in general or just a masterpiece for me, in this moment I’m in. I’m too deep in my own experience that resonates too loudly for me to comment on writing or storyline. I think both of those things were enjoyable and interesting, but the overall experience of this book is the emotion and the characters. I can see this falling flat for someone who just wants a fun sci-fi romp and not a look at how parenting, society, and intimate partner violence shapes people and makes us question how much free will we have and if it’s possible to break the programming in a world that wants us pleasant, submissive, and unquestioning.
I don’t know if this book is a masterpiece in general or just a masterpiece for me, in this moment I’m in. I’m too deep in my own experience that resonates too loudly for me to comment on writing or storyline. I think both of those things were enjoyable and interesting, but the overall experience of this book is the emotion and the characters. I can see this falling flat for someone who just wants a fun sci-fi romp and not a look at how parenting, society, and intimate partner violence shapes people and makes us question how much free will we have and if it’s possible to break the programming in a world that wants us pleasant, submissive, and unquestioning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Slavery, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Abortion and Suicide
softanimal's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Body horror, and Medical content
turrean's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The book was a clever and chilling reflection on how people are shaped and socialized, especially women. I kept getting caught up in questions about the plausibility of the plot, before realizing that the improbability of the narrative wasn’t the point: the moral dilemma was the point. And, I suppose, the horrifying inevitability of the conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse
heypretty52's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Murder, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Body horror, and Medical content
Minor: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship
kaynova's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
this book was a good time and i was just going along with the ride. i love how morally grey everyone is in the book and the narrator for the audiobook had the perfect voice for evelyn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Infidelity
Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
looseleafellie's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
5.0
This blend of science fiction and domestic thriller follows brilliant scientist Evelyn Caldwell, whose husband used her groundbreaking cloning research to make a more obedient version of her and left her for her clone. But now her husband is dead, and Evelyn and her clone must clean up the mess …
This was a quick and thought-provoking read! I love main characters who are kind of nasty people, and Evelyn is no exception. Really, there are no good people in this book, but I loved the exploration of how people’s bad behaviors can stem from the way people have treated them.
This is, on the surface, a story about misogyny. The way Evelyn’s husband creates a partner to his own specifications mirrors the way that misogyny is often rooted in the desire to make women conform to the standards men and society have set for them.
However, the ethical issues explored in the story go deeper than that. The main plot of Evelyn trying to work with her clone to cover up her husband’s death is interspersed with flashbacks to Evelyn’s own childhood. The parallels between the way people treat Evelyn’s clone and the way Evelyn’s father treated her mother raise some interesting questions about not just misogyny, but about nature vs nurture, how people can change depending on the amount of agency they’re afforded, and what counts as the “real” version of someone.
The ending of the book doesn’t fully tie up many of the moral questions inherent in the story, but that leaves the reader open to fill in some of the blanks themselves. Overall, if you’re in the mood for something dark, speculative, cerebral, and quietly thriller-like, you might want to check this out!
CWs: Murder, blood, misogyny, loss of bodily autonomy, domestic abuse recounted, cheating, vomit.
Spice level: None.
This was a quick and thought-provoking read! I love main characters who are kind of nasty people, and Evelyn is no exception. Really, there are no good people in this book, but I loved the exploration of how people’s bad behaviors can stem from the way people have treated them.
This is, on the surface, a story about misogyny. The way Evelyn’s husband creates a partner to his own specifications mirrors the way that misogyny is often rooted in the desire to make women conform to the standards men and society have set for them.
However, the ethical issues explored in the story go deeper than that. The main plot of Evelyn trying to work with her clone to cover up her husband’s death is interspersed with flashbacks to Evelyn’s own childhood. The parallels between the way people treat Evelyn’s clone and the way Evelyn’s father treated her mother raise some interesting questions about not just misogyny, but about nature vs nurture, how people can change depending on the amount of agency they’re afforded, and what counts as the “real” version of someone.
The ending of the book doesn’t fully tie up many of the moral questions inherent in the story, but that leaves the reader open to fill in some of the blanks themselves. Overall, if you’re in the mood for something dark, speculative, cerebral, and quietly thriller-like, you might want to check this out!
CWs: Murder, blood, misogyny, loss of bodily autonomy, domestic abuse recounted, cheating, vomit.
Spice level: None.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Murder, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse