Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

83 reviews

bookwormcat's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Deadnaming, Outing, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

lvosler21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Gaslighting, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Mental illness, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Death, Deadnaming, Child death, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

roveronez's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

A poignant novel written in duo with seamless perfection! So many delicate subjects treated with a lot of kindness and respect. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of second guessing, oh so many triggers... and a mistery to be solved. The story is written in 2 voices, one moving forward as the story evolves, the other backwards - which was a bit disconcerting at times - to slowly reveal the background and shatter our hearts. Beautifully written!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Grief, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

jrow's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

3.75

Found the book boring until the trial revealed Lily was AMAB. I thought it was a clever way to surprise the reader with the knowledge, just like the court was discovering it. However, before that point reading the beginning was as easy as a walk through knee-deep mud.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, Suicide attempt, Violence, Transphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

cari_mac's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

really appreciated this book. check the TWs, there's some serious content in here. but love the story itself and how it is revealed. y'all know i love a twisty turny 

i do not love a miscommunication trope, but when it comes to family secrets, its at least a more realistic use of them!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Outing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Self harm

lexithelion's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This was the best book I read in 2023 and even long ago. This book has many complex themes woven together perfectly to highlight the purpose of the book. I LOVED the way this book tackled difficult topics but was still lighthearted and a good story. I wish the police proceedings were a little more realistic, but otherwise, this book is great at making you believe that multiple people aren't who they say they are, and it leaves you guessing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

feralpoodles's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

4.5

Very good, very emotional and heavy, but also gripping mystery. Definitely very dark, basically any dark/heavy emotional theme you can think of is at least mentioned in this book, but I don’t think it’s too heavy handed most of the time. I liked the back and forth perspectives between Olivia and Lily, but (mostly stylistically) I liked Olivia’s chapters better. Sometimes Lily’s chapters made the pacing feel a little stilted, and the timeline wasn’t quite clear for me. I actually didn’t realize that Lily’s perspective was in reverse chronological until the very end (though that could just me my problem because I tend not to register time spans/dates when they’re written out at the start of chapters). Thought it was a very well done exploration of abusive relationships and the cycle of abuse. Great plot twist in the middle, I audibly went “Whaaat” when it was revealed, and I flipped back through what I just read and stuff made a lot more sense, which is my favorite kind of twist. A bit preachy sometimes, there’s a few bits after the plot twist that feel like a tumblr psa post that break the immersion a bit, but there weren’t too many instances so I can forgive them, especially since the topic is so misunderstood and polarized right now. Dragged on a few times, but overall kept me very engaged and emotionally invested, definitely heartbreaking, lots of complex emotions. Loved all the bee stuff too, was very interesting to learn about and thematically was very satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

barktea's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

silverhill's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Outing, Deadnaming, Medical content, and Bullying

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Death of parent

goodin10tions's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Mad Honey is it's own story but I feel like if you are a fan of Saving Jacob, Middlesex,  or The Lovely Bones you will love it. The journey of all the characters is haunting and melancholy. Sensitive readers should research the content because there are many possible triggers.
This is a long story (15 hrs) but it goes by really fast. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Grief, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts