Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

38 reviews

sn03's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Murder, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

eggface's review

challenging dark reflective 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: Misogyny and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder, Gore, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy

Minor: Physical abuse

mkgfencer's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

Be ready for some long digressions about the protagonist’s deep and wide ranging trauma. 

I’ve never hated any book character as much as I hated the antagonist.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Vomit and Trafficking

becksusername's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

erikwmj's review

emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Gore, Murder, 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

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Take cloning, moral amboguity, replacements, women in science, and a mysogenistic ex, mix them together with murder and a cover-up and out comes this book. It won't be for everyone, but I rather enjoyed this dark story. Every twist was intriguing and added to the experience nicely. I also really liked how Evelyn is written. She's an interesting character.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Medical content

Demanding a woman get pregnant, sexism in science

theroastedbookery's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

 

So, let me begin by saying this is an incredible book. The structure of the story, the pacing, the incredibly intriguing characters...all of it was perfectly executed. Again, much like Aetherbound, the science fiction inherent to the story wasn't the focus of the story and its complexity didn't get in the way of the storytelling. It was simply a means to an end. The science in the story was a tool the author used to explore some incredibly heavy themes.

Speaking of themes...At the heart of this story, is our main character Dr. Evelyn Caldwell. I hesitate to call her "protagonist," but you'll have to RAFO to find out why.  She is an incredibly successful scientist thriving in a world still dominated by misogynistic men. She grapples with the ideas of identity, personhood, gender conformity/non-conformity and personal agency throughout the novel. The questions of consciousness and  nature/nurture, and how trauma informs our lives are central to the story. We're also forced to confront the questions around biases as it relates to scientific advancement. How much of what we take as the natural progression of scientific achievement is tainted by bias and what might the future look like if we confront that bias head on?

**At this point, I feel as though I should offer up a trigger warning. One of the themes with which the characters grapple is grooming. If grooming is something that engenders a negative response for you then please go into this story with your eyes wide open. In terms of the plot, the antagonist's (Evelyn's former husband, its not even close) achieves his primary goal  through grooming. It doesn't go away and the repercussions of his actions are felt in every page of every chapter.**

Her training and habits as a scientist gives her an insight and perspective with which I identified. There were several times throughout the story where I paused and thought, "Well, I do that, too. Should I stop?" Her propensity for self-evaluation and asking herself hard questions is familiar though her refrain, "I'm not a monster," feels more like self-soothing as opposed to the truthful answer to one of those hard questions. Dr. Caldwell judges these things by matters of degrees, and it is deliciously difficult to tell where she might actually draw the line. It is also difficult to tell how her world would be effected if she came to the conclusion that she was, in fact, the monster.

She's seen how monsters are managed.

Grab your copy of The Echo Wife from The Roasted Bookery here or (because we're nearly sold out...again!) from our Bookshop site, here.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Gaslighting

ashtheaudiomancer's review

4.0

This has been on my list for ages. I generally like Sarah Gailey, and while I still think "Just Like Home" is their best work, this was definitely an enjoyable, challenging one. What do you do if your no-good husband cheats on you with a clone OF you? Neat twist on a classic thriller trope.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy and Gaslighting

paperknotbooks's review

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