Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

White smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

30 reviews

mzgeee53's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Vomit

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

*********kind of spoiler *********




Upgrading to a four after some thought. It's a good allegory for racism in the US. Would be a good book to teach in high school, if I had it my way ;-)

Felt like I was reading a version of the Korean movie Parasite. But it was a lot less creepy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

achay91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Toxic relationship

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Torture, Murder, Death, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Stalking, Gun violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Medical content, Drug abuse, Cursing, Police brutality, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, and Death

turtleycool's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Why is it called “White Smoke“? Abrupt ending, an emotionally unintelligent protagonist, unsatisfactory resolution. Can be a thrilling read though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Body horror, Bullying, Racism, and Mental illness

islesbiyana's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

She can’t keep getting away with this. 

Extra content warning since storygraphy still doesn’t have a specific tag for this:

insects/insect horror. The main character has a phobia of bedbugs and discusses them in graphic detail very often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia and Kidnapping

insect horror, bed bugs

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

I sadly did not enjoy this one as much as I was hoping. I do have to say that the discussions in this are good and very important and I enjoyed those. I did enjoy the plot of this book and the family dynamics I do have to say nothing really creepy started happening until about 60% of the way through so that was kind of a bummer I didn’t see something coming so that was cool and I do have to say the last 15% I really liked.  I just found this to be boring at first and I know she’s an addict and I know weed helped her with her anxiety but hearing about it every other sentence was driving me crazy. I really liked Sammy as a character as well. He was probably my favorite part of the book. I think I also didn’t like this because the main character was very unlikable at times and that was hard like I understood her side of things but it was just too much of at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Addiction, Classism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Bullying, Racism, and Violence

catsandbookstacks's review against another edition

4.0

Do you have a fear of bed bugs? If the answer is yes, skip this book.

White Smoke is a YA haunted house horror with a lens focused on addiction, gentrification, blended families and the criminalization of marijuana.

I love a haunted house story, asking yourself whether it's paranormal, just in your head or some other explanation. The author blends social commentary into the horror, which is what I typically expect within the genre these days. I'm upset at myself for sleeping on Tiffany D. Jackson until now and look forward to reading more!

Jackson set the ominous scene of Cedarville and Maple Street through the dilapidated neighbourhood, construction workers leaving the site as soon as 5pm hits and odd things happening around the house.

The steady build of peculiar occurrences are balanced by Marcella Cox's vivid narration. I felt anxiety each time Marigold spiraled over her fear of bed bugs. I admit, I checked my bed halfway through this book.

Marigold struggles to find her footing within her family and in a new town. The relationship she has with her brother is heartwarming, though she holds a lot of guilt over him finding her overdosing. Stepsister Piper is just as annoying as you'd expect a ten year old to be from the eyes of an older sibling.

The ending was somewhat abrupt and I could have used an epilogue to provide a little more closure for the characters and town. Perhaps a sequel?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Racism, and Addiction

Moderate: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, and Police brutality

Minor: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury