Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Reader, I Murdered Him

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell

11 reviews

saintswitchblade's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful tense 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? No

4.5

Content Warnings

growintogardens's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

uncreativeoops's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

maddiereadswords's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

toorsdenote's review

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

bobblemoples's review

Go to review page

dark inspiring reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

caidyn's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I haven't read any of Jane Eyre or any of those books. But I know enough from retellings to say that this was kind of a second book/retelling but from the daughter's perspective. And so I'm not sure how many elements were changed. But I did like what she did with the characters. That being said I did figure out one major "twist" pretty early, but I didn't predict everything about it, just the who. I enjoyed the feminism and the powerful women. Overall a good book.

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

Being sent to boarding school is a dream come true for Adele. She’s always felt like she was in the background. Her father’s manor never really felt like home to her, especially after having to leave their original home. Boarding school in London seems like the perfect place for a fresh start.

But Adele can’t escape the shadows when she’s in London. Adele realizes that a lot of the men looking for favors from her friends don’t have the best of intentions. After a particularly violent assault, she teams up with another woman to extract revenge. Adele is determined to save her friends from a dark fate. But will she have the courage to save herself?

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an advanced copy of Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell to review! I knew from the title that this would have some hints towards Jane Eyre; I didn’t realize how much it was going to be inspired by it! Told from Rochester’s adopted daughter’s eyes, we also get a glimpse into what happened after Jane Eyre. Since it’s one of my favorite classics, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Not only do the events align with the classic, the overall tone and voice also mimics Jane Eyre. We all know that Rochester was…not the greatest man, and this book just really confirms it. So often throughout the book, Adele mentions how much of a prison marriage was for women at the time. I loved that she got to work outside those confines, as a sort of vigilante. It’s such a great twist on the classic we all know.

And the characters! Adele has a strong voice from the get go; and she isn’t afriad to tell it like it is. The group of friends she makes at the boarding school were also well fleshed out; we get to see how society is affecting all of them differently. And the romance! Adele pairs up with a girl to get justice, and they fall in love. Honestly, it’s beautiful.

The only reason this isn’t getting five stars is that I do wish there was a bit more vigilantism. It’s pitched as a large part of the book, but it doesn’t really come in until later in the narrative. Expanding that would have pushed it over the edge for me.

All in all, if you love interesting twists on classics, you’ll love this book!
-----
Oh, I really enjoyed this! Didn't realize it was actually going to be so connected to Jane Eyre, but I loved that. Stay tuned for a full review to come next week!

Content Warnings

alannadoucette8's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-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

4.25

Content Warnings

More...