Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

52 reviews

kenzibir's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Heart wrenching and loving. Made me hate and love the story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

Minor: War and Child abuse

jennireadsmaybe's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

How do I write a review for Evil Eye? How do I capture how much this book means to me? 

Evil Eye follows Yara, a Palestinian American woman, who after marrying and leaving her conservative family behind in Brooklyn is seemingly living the dream. She's gotten to do everything that her mother never could. She's working at a local college, married to a nice man, and raising her two daughters. Everything's great. Except it doesn't feel like enough.  

Etaf Rum is a forced to be reckoned with; there's no other way to put it. Evil Eye explores generational trauma, motherhood, depression, friendship, and the deeply personal desire to be loved by the people around us. It's a hard read, but a necessary one in my opinion. 

There were so many lines throughout the book that were a punch in the gut. Rum's writing is at once beautiful and harrowing, but I never find myself lost by it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

koiolee's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book has a purpose. But it's not really my cup of tea. I normally love books about marginalized communities fighting what they know to move forward, change, heal, but this book felt more like a therapy session than a story of healing. There are long segments of typical therapy advice, stories, jargon, that makes the book drag on. There's metaphors that the author tells you explicitly what they mean, instead of an implicit nod towards. It feels like you're dumbing it down for your audience, when your audience is likely college-level, college-educated, media literate readers. You're writing for a small audience, when your actual audience are more or less people like me.
EDIT: It gives Catcher in the Rye vibes omg.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Self harm

kjofalltrades's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

aliireads's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Good book! Very sad and hard to read at times. A little frustrating with Yara’s family and upbringing, but the ending is good. The last 1/3 kind of drags on, but the book was good overall. It covers abuse, spousal abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, depression, anxiety, etc. definitely a heavy book, but it also has some very sweet moments. Everyone deserves a friend like Silas. I would recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

mthereader's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts

ealfving's review

dark emotional sad

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Misogyny

gkaltam's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

msvernier's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

taliabasma's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed reading Yara’s journey however, it was so frustrating throughout the whole book, which I’m sure was the author’s intention anyway so in that regards, she was successful at making me feel the frustration that Yara felt as she tried to break free from the chains of her trauma. 

Had I not been reading this for a bookclub, I would’ve stopped ages ago - not because the writing was bad, but because I hate reading anything that isn’t a romance lol

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Racism and Islamophobia