Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

16 reviews

loonysaurus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Drug use, Misogyny, Body horror, Physical abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Violence, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Animal death, Miscarriage, and Gun violence

emilycheslock's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Stalking, Confinement, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Suicide and Self harm

Minor: Grief and Rape

megmu18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death

Moderate: Abandonment

kmacdonald's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

2.75

Lisa Jewell had one of my
best reads of 2023. This one just felt a little bit too all over the place. The timeline jumps were too jumpy and it often confused the plot for me. One of the big reveals I feel happened so unsurprisingly that it was weird. This thriller is still
a fast read because you spend the whole time trying to figure out WTF is going on. The storyline was good once you figured it out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Death of parent

arushidas_'s review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Confinement, and Stalking

brynhayes's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Death, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

lxcy153's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

A LOT OF TRIGGER WARNINGS
 despite liking this book it was not mentioned before any of said trigger warnings were brought up in dialogue that these would happen so just be careful before reading. personally this book was the star to my reading journey as i haven’t prior to this book ever had a drive to read, thus meaning i hadn’t read the first one (due to what i have found this seems to be the sequel) despite this i still found this book east to follow along with. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Kidnapping and Stalking

orianaisreading's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

WHOLE LOT OF TRIGGER WARNINGS

I didn’t realise when I bought this book that it was a sequel so I’d have to buy the first one as well.

However, at times, what a hot mess. It was hard to follow all the characters and storylines that were all happening all at once. And there were unanswered questions.

1. Does Lucy know that it wasn’t a suicide pact manipulated by David but that all three of them were killed by Henry?
2. The police officer knows Henry also killed Birdie but the book just ends with no mention of it. Does he just realise he can’t get him and drops the case? He didn’t seem like the type to just drop it.
3. The police officer says there’s no one who cares about who killed Birdie but also says her brother messaged him every day?

Also, it felt like the officer being black was a bit of a fake attempt at diversity. If he was just black and that was that it wouldn’t be mentioned so many times but also it only scraps the surface to what a black officer would face in London. So it didn’t do a good job of saying he’s black and that’s just that and characters can be black without it being everything about them and it failed to do so by the sheer amount of times it was mentioned but it also didn’t do a good job of dealing with the nuances of it.

Contrary to other comments the last line of the epilogue made complete sense to me. The emptiness in Henry would not have been filled by a family reunion, not matter that he loves them. He is not psychopathic, he feels empathy for others, but he’s deeply troubled and will continue to be so.

The book was kind of dragged 150 pages more than it should have (but so is this review). Rant over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

I didn't realize that this was the sequel to The Family Upstairs when I started, and I probably would have waited a bit to be a better headspace because of all of the assault. But I still really enjoyed it, and I like the author's storytelling a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Grief and Infidelity