Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

37 reviews

bookbitch111's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I went into this book with no knowledge of the plot or characters. Ultimately, I love this book. It has a poetic, sometimes choppy format. Something so simple - a girl has an accident she cannot remember, is turned so deep and dark. We Were Liars has an unreliable narrator, and the details she throws the readers seem out of place at first. The book wraps quickly with a dark plot twist - all of those random details make sense. You begin to understand the false security, the warped reality our main character is buried deep under. This book shows how ugly and shallow people can be, how your consequences have actions. I finished We Were Liars with hot tears on my face. In the few days since I concluded the read, I have been haunted and disturbed by the tragedy of these characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal death and Gaslighting

emilyellen07's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Dementia, and Suicidal thoughts

lucys_library's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Animal death, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, and Racism

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

farren_doubell's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

oh it's so sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Minor: Drug abuse, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

agnes_reads's review against another edition

Because the book was very confusing to understand and the characters were annoying. And nothing made sense I had to read a page like 5 times to understand anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

katherineroseamber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

star_witch's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

1.0

This book started out ok. Then I reached the end and it was bad. Like really bad. I felt like it came out of nowhere, nothing in the whole book led up to that ending. It was unsatisfying and was only there for shock value. And it didn't even shock me. 
There is only one POC character and even though the racism he experiences is brought up, it isn't actually explore very well. 
Also mental illness was used as a plot device.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

thehollyking's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

This book is hyped up so much everywhere and I didn't like it at all. The writing style is so over the top (every time the main character meets even a minor setback she's like "then he turned into a bear and shot me in the face"), the characters have one trait each, and the way the author can't seem to decide whether these characters’ obscene wealth is embarrassing or aspirational and kind of tries to do both drove me nuts. (The dismissive comments in the afterward about Cady’s "marxism" do suggest a few things though...)

I thought this was a thriller from the blurb but nothing happens and the twist is beyond stupid. (Also I have no idea how the character got out of the situation revealed in the twist without any injuries that would be noticeable months later even if she did have amnesia.) I don't think this book had any redeeming qualities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit