Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

5 reviews

maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

Trigger warning: murder of a dog. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ashleyj_reads's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this viewpoint of love’s impact on a dystopian world, and what humans decide to do about it. The main character faces several of the types of conflict while progressing through this coming of age, and it was done well - I liked watching her struggle and problem solve all the way to the end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

mary_do_12's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

2.0

i should’ve known from the blurb on the back of the book how this was going to go. let me explain.

it was kind of a little cringe. and cliché.
in the beginning the main character — lena — is visibly influenced and driven by the lies the government feeds them. she seems like a very naive and oblivious character, who later starts to doubt her views of the world and society. of course, this is character development that is totally necessary. but, and hear me out, the lena we get to know in the beginning of the book is really frustrating and annoying to read about. this is mainly because it’s very obvious to the reader that the whole love as a disease thing is no more than propaganda.
then we meet alex, who is basically the exact opposite of lena. they fall in love (obviously) and then she proceeds to plan her entire life off of him.
the relationship felt flat and had nothing thrilling about it, except the fact that they had to keep it a secret, but at some point everything lena was doing could’ve gotten her jailed, institutionalized or killed.
there were no other characters that stirred any particular interest in me, i enjoyed reading about grace, but even hana felt like she had no depth except for good looks to me.
the plot was — to say it outright — flat as well. it was pretty predictable, but that‘s not to say there weren’t surprising turns.

the ending was admittedly frustrating, but kind of predictable as well so it wasn’t that frustrating.

one thing that you have to give to lauren oliver though, is that she wrote something entertaining. the problem is just that „entertaining“ doesn’t mean it’s a good book. at least for me it doesn’t. 
i don’t necessarily regret reading this book, i just wouldn’t do it again.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Gun violence

filipa_maia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

2.0

It took me over two years to finish this book.. and no, it not because I'm a slow reader. I hate to 'DNF' books. I can't do it because my brain needs closure: finish a book, write a review and put the book away.

The story is not bad: a world where love is a disease and there is a medical procedure to cure it. People who fall in love are sick. Easy as that. Now, there is a bunch of plot holes to this narrative - if the medical procedure cures you from love, we are talking about ALL THE LOVE romantic and non-romantic. Right? Am i missing something here? Maybe there is something here that I'm not getting. And then this book is unnecessarily big. It could be way shorter, and way more interesting, if we didn't spend so much time reading, with immense detail, every single thought she has. That's why I had to put it down the first time - I was so bored.

Of course that me, being me, I need to read the second book because this one ends in a cliffhanger. I just need to know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Animal death and Police brutality

mino88's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse