Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell

13 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Ableism, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Grief, Incest, Sexual harassment, and Confinement

Moderate: Classism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm

Minor: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Terminal illness

lilyfugita's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Really drew me in. The ending was surprising but at the same time expected and well built. Relatable, a little bit too much modern language for the time

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Blood, and Incest

Minor: Ableism

e_bee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual content

growintogardens's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.5

This was a solid 3 for me until the twist. I liked the queer rep, but the relationship needed fleshed out more imo. It was also fairly slow for the first half of the book. Loved the idea and the title.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Rape, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? No

4.0

This is a sort of Jane Eyre-retelling/sequel from Adèle's (Rochester's daughter) point of view which was a nice surprise. I always love retellings and reexaminations of characters offering a different perspective on the original plot. Some of the character's behaviour didn't fit with my reading of Jane Eyre, but it was an interesting interpretation and definitely worth for the story the author wanted to tell (though if you consider Jane Eyre to be the greatest romance of all time this is probably not the book for you. I've always loved it for Jane's determination and less for Rochester, which made the plot in this one much more logical). There's a lot of female solidarity and rightful anger, sometimes to the point of cheesiness, and I felt some of the conflicts were too easily resolved. A few more chapters wouldn't have been a bad idea, giving the problems more time to unfold and allowing the side characters to be more complex; some of them seemed to be not much more than plot devices whose motivation were only hinted at but could have been interesting. The novel wants to tell of so many lives that the protagonist encounters and somehow never finds the space to do so satisfactorily. On the other hand, this plus the very nice and flowing writing means that it's the perfect novel to be finished in one rainy day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Colonisation

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

4.0

I'll admit, it took me a few chapters to really get into this book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. I've loved Jane Eyre for years, and this felt like such a worthy sequel/spin-off. My favorite aspect of it by far is the amount of friendships and community between women and girls. At no point does this book play into mean girl stereotypes; Adele grew up in a community of women who looked out for each other, and that's the energy that's woven into the entire book. There's even a pub run by a trans man that caters primarily to queer women (that I would pay good money to read a spin-off about!!), and the feeling of sisterhood, and community was such a highlight for me. All of the characters felt real and developed, the relationships were sweet, and I think Adele was a great protagonist.

My biggest gripe was with the pacing of the book. Most of the first third of it was a prequel to/retelling of Jane Eyre from Adele's POV which was interesting enough, but it isn't until a good way into the book that the action really starts. I would have liked a little more development of Adele's midnight training sessions with Nan and their escapades as that aspect felt rather rushed. Also pay attention to the content warnings for this one! It's a YA book and there's nothing too horribly graphic that happens, but it is really dark at points.

Also, I personally really like the twist at the end

when Rochester confesses to writing the letters from Eric and tries to assault Adele, which leads to Adele killing him

not because I like the twist, but because quite frankly, yeah I believe it of one of my personal worst literary enemies, Edward Rochester. I love Jane Eyre in spite of him; I've always hated that man so much, so like, good for Adele. (Also worth noting that the author's note at the end really expands on why she made the choices she did with respect to the source material, which I personally found really interesting, and a compelling interpretation of the text.)

Overall, I really loved this book!! I totally understand that it's not for everyone (once again, please check the content warnings!!), but if you're a fan of Jane Eyre, I would still highly recommend giving this a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, and Death of parent

toorsdenote's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Confinement, Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization

tlholmes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Incest

caidyn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Wow. I wasn't expecti this at all. I figured it would more be a retelling of Jane Eyre, but it totally went in its own direction. Queer. Murderous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Gaslighting, Incest, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

edoherty's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

Adèle Varens, Rochester's ward, grows far beyond the pages of Jane Eyre in this book.  It is angry and passionate and I loved it tremendously.

My only criticism, and it is a significant one, has to do with the climax of Part 4 and what it does to the book overall. 

I really hate that Rochester becomes just another violent predator. Plotwise, it comes out of nowhere, and themewise, it oversimplifies the danger presented by those with power by making them only rapists.  I would have preferred that he instead announce his intention to use his control over Adèle's inheritance and ability to marry to control her life and dictate her future.  They could have argued and he could have died of a stroke, or he could have had a heart attack upon attempting to rise from his sickbed to strike her, and the resolution of the story could play out very similarly to how it already does - instead of making Fairfax a creation of Rochester's, make him untrustworthy and/or weak, a pawn of his father's, who withdraws his proposal in a letter that Rochester shows Adèle: Jane wouldn't know about it, and Adèle could still leave with Nan.  It bothers me a lot that the book acknowledges only one sort of villainy.

Despite that, I loved the rest of the book enough that it overcomes my reservations about that aspect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Sexual violence