Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

12 reviews

lorraine19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I was expecting a chaotic, gritty, realistic view of school shooting. I was thoroughly disappointed. Instead, this reads like an overly scripted Hollywood movie. There's so many long dialogues and every character just had to have some dramatic heroic moment even if it made no sense. The type of characters didn't really match the setting. 

I don't like telling spoilers in reviews but I feel like I need to provide examples of scenes to express how unrealistic it was written....

(SPOILERS) The shooter comes in and an auditorium of a hundred students just goes completely silent. When the doors open, not a single person panics or makes a run for it. Everything is controlled and there is little chaos. Police officers find students a couple blocks from the school and BRING THEM BACK. Like what?! (SPOILERS)

Reading the author's note, they state they grew up in a different country and we're unfamiliar with school shootings. They wrote the book in order to "learn about it". Clearly they should've done more research. Insulting to anyone that's been in proximity to violence like this and does not provide a realistic or fair view of school shootings at all. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Death, Gaslighting, Child death, Hate crime, Violence, Gore, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Racism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

username330's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, Genocide, Violence, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Death, Blood, Confinement, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, and Gore

Minor: Medical content, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

iksme's review against another edition

challenging sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Every time I read this book, it emotionally destroys me. It is similar to an out-of-body experience. You will cry if you read this, even if you usually don't. It is a deep and sickeningly realistic depiction of what it is like to experience trauma and its effects on the community, including the beginnings of collective community trauma. There is a main character who is a queer domestic violence survivor, and her story is so thought out, so real it is as though she is guiding you through this book. this read hurt my heart and helped me feel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

spooderman's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Dementia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Xenophobia, Outing, Vomit, Deportation, and Islamophobia

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

My heart was in my throat the entire time I was reading. As a teacher, this is one of my worst nightmares. The story itself is realistic but the character jumping made it a little difficult to follow at times. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Dementia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Addiction, Grief, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Physical abuse

anonymous_traveller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Vomit

sj_booksgram's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Im very careful with my rating system, only giving 5 stars to books I throughly enjoyed. And this was a heart and gut- wrenching novel. I couldn't set it down, every new perspective with each passing minute I felt like I was there side by side with each character. I cried and laughed and was disgusted all along with every one of them. I felt like I was in the thick of it with them. This book may not be for everyone due to its content warnings but my god I will 100% read this again. It broke my heart but it was by far the best book I've read this year. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Death, and Death of parent

shaylee_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐.75/5
Sadness:💧💧💧💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Sapphic Main Couple, Latino FMC & MC
Content Warnings: School Shooting, Gun Violence, Death, Sexual Assault/Rape (Briefly Mentioned), Mental Illness, physical & Emotional Child Abuse, Death of a Parent, Alcoholism, & a Parent With Dementia.

This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp is about a school shooting and it told from the four points of view of people who all have a reason to fear the shooter.

This book can be a very hard book to read but I also feel like it is a very important one to read, I would highly recommend reading it if you're in right mental space for it.
I read this book in one day. It's a hard story and can be hard to read for some but it's also very faced paced. The story is always moving forward and it never really slows down which makes it a pretty fast read. Ive been in the biggest reading slump since HOSAB and this book was just the trick to get me out of it.
I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. It really impressive that the author fit so much in such a short amount of time, this whole book takes place in a hour and it's insane how much she did with such a short amount of time.
I would also not recommend reading this book while out in public because I made the bad decision to start this book while at work and then I became addicted to it and couldn't stop reading it which problem I was crying on and off throughout the entire (especially the end, I was bawling at the end of this book)
I’ve heard about this book for years but no one ever talks about how much diversity this book has in it. I was completely shocked when I found out that there was a sapphic main couple in this novel which happens to be one of my favorite aspects of this book.
This book made me think about things that I have never thought about before such as siblings of school shooters. I guess I always assumed that school shooters where only children but obviously that most like not true and so it was interesting to read a book that explored this possiblity (it's also completely broke my heart to read about).

I do wish we got a little bit more of an explanation on why he did it because his ex girlfriend was saying that she never thought he would be the person to do something like this and that he was a very sweet and caring person. I just wish what made him change so much outside of his mom's death was a explained a little more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I have already bought another book by this author and will be starting that one soon.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Grief, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death, and Dementia

rayannreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Outing, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Outing, and Islamophobia

shannay_05's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape