Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

22 reviews

birdieex's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

3.5

Mixed feelings on this book. I feel like this is going to be is difficult for me to rate. On one hand, I think I lacked the media literacy skills to understand a fair bit of the writing style, and ended up having to reread paragraphs. On the other hand, I can acknowledge it's a layered, psychologically complex story of obsession and violence.
 
I can see what the author was going for with the writing; something complicated and tangled and messy. However, there were many scenes I couldn't comprehend what was going on. I couldn't piece together where scenes started and ended or who was speaking when. I thought the

unreliable narrator

was done well. The ending threw me for a loop, honestly. That callback was so good.
 
There were a lot of times where characters knew something (or thought they knew something) I didn't and it was hard for me to connect to anyone. If the intention was to make us read between the lines, I had trouble doing that; and again this could come down to my own media illiteracy. I can't grasp the motive behind the killing. It was a thrill killing, but why? Why did they suddenly decide to do this?

I couldn't figure out if they even liked each other during some parts, which I get is the point. It's toxic and codependent, but I still found myself thinking "why the hell are you even together?" because I couldn't see anything that really brought them together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Cursing, Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Animal death

The sexual assault is a brief detail; however it is described and could be triggering. Details under the spoiler.

Julian explains that his prep school roommate would climb on top of him (fully clothed) when he thought he was asleep. Julian said he allowed it because "he was a little good-looking and I felt sorry that he didn't have any other friends.

patriciapueyolopez's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death, Suicide, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Stalking, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

lisaalessandra's review

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

2.0

This book is deeply disturbing. The content actually made me sick. I started reading this book because it was being compared to “The Secret History”. But if that is why you are considering reading it, please don’t. I decided to give 2 stars instead of 1 because it was well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, and Gore

ashlikes's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Bullying, Sexual violence, Animal death, Sexism, Vomit, and War

cldurand's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

addyruth17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

Slowly enthralling, creeping like ivy growing up a brick wall. Many character moments and traits in the beginning that I felt saw right through me, which is scary by the end. Nemerever paints so well with words--I love the color scheme and I enjoy how uncomfortably visceral the senses were. There's a lot of build-up, so the pay-off is a bit disappointing to me; maybe one could argue that's part of the genius, leaving the reader suspended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, Antisemitism, Car accident, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual content, and War

shegoteverythin's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

“All they were—all they had ever been—was a pair of sunflowers who each believed the other was the sun.”  Haven't stopped thinking about this book for weeks now. The absolute tragedies that are Paul Fleischer and Julian Fromme. I loved the writing in this and especially the depiction of Paul's progression as a character and how he as an unreliable narrator perceived Julian and their relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault

introverted_reads's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Suicide, Homophobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping

niccolowilliam's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Wow. Damn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Suicide attempt, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Antisemitism

Minor: Police brutality and War