Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

90 reviews

readingwannie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

This was my first thriller, which I was recommended by a friend! Despite not loving this book, I don’t think this was my last thriller. I really enjoyed the story and overall it was a great book. Certain plot-points were slightly predictable but I didn’t expect the ending and I had a good time reading this. I think this book in general would deserve a higher rating, but there’s one thing that bothered me immensely in the first part of the book, that pushed the rating down quite a lot. 

Light spoilers + ranting incoming:

As someone who struggles with body-image and has had a very troubled relationship with food and weight, there were certain expressions about Nina’s appearance that really made me uncomfortable. I can understand that there is a huge stigma around being overweight, and a lot of people consider fat and ugly to be synonyms (they’re not), but the talk about how Nina had let herself go, how she was so ugly and fat, and looked pregnant, and how her husband could do so much better, really did not sit right with me. As I got to the second half of the book, it was obvious that Nina gaining weight was deliberate, and she wanted to appear ugly and unattractive, and although it made sense for the story that people pointed out her lack of discipline, it still doesn’t diminish the fact that a lot of people actually have these thought about fat people. I already spend a lot of time worrying about what people think about me when they look at me, and I didn’t need a reminder on how horrible people can actually be. Which is why this book went from 4 to 2.5 stars for me…

It was a good book though, and if you don’t mind the things I’ve mentioned above, I think this is definitely worth a shot! Like I said, this will not be the last thriller I read, and I’m honestly thankful to have made my first trip into this genre. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

dezaraemd's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This is without a doubt one of the top 3 books I’ve ever read. Possibly number 1. I can’t wait to start the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Classism, and Deportation

emspeid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Gaslighting

jaldep91's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Plot twist was incredibly predictable but still a good story. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

tamtaro's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

rachelle_reads's review

dark tense fast-paced

3.75

The first half was rough. I almost quit reading, I disliked Millie so much, especially with her sensationalizing of mental illness and her fatphobia. I was hoping the twists would have redeeming value. And they did.

This was a propulsive read. Definitely a page turner. I never did fall in love with the characters, but by the end, they were almost believable and the book was fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

gracefulraven's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, and Deportation

abbiey34's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

Great book, but very predictable in my opinion. I unfortunately read the book Verity by Colleen Hoover first. I kinda wish I would’ve read them in the other order, as I feel Verity was perfect, and The Housemaid was disappointing. It’s a slowish read throughout, and only by the end does it get going.

The twists and turns were predictable from the beginning, and had the cliché of “you think it’s Nina that’s the bad guy, but of course, it was her husband Andrew all along.”

 

The ending was pretty poor in my opinion. Turned into a Maid Husband Killer, which made me laugh out of embarrassment for the author decision. I personally don’t understand the hype. The torture scenes where really uncalled for too. Pretty specific and random torture scenes, and again became laughable at times with how weird it was. 

I wouldn’t recommend reading this if you have read Verity as there are a lot of similarities that are just too annoying. I would love to know who wrote what first! But, if you haven’t read Verity, then I would read The Housemaid first, and then dive into Verity! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

omgmkg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not really the sort of thing I normally pick up to read, but it was good for its genre. Trying not to be biased because I accidentally had some spoilers and I’m sure I would have had a different experience with the book otherwise. 

Well written and a fast read. Would consider picking up book 2. 

Would have earned at least another .25 stars if it wouldn’t have mentioned how horribly fat (aka size 14 maybe 16, gasp) Nina is every 20 pages. (I know her body changing was part of her story but I got it the first three times).

definitely an “I support women’s wrongs” book and I enjoyed it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Vomit