Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell

13 reviews

dexkit10's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Mental illness, Colonisation, and Child abuse

growintogardens's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Rape, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

uncreativeoops's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Colonisation

ladylothlorien's review

dark emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I had to sit with this one for a little bit before reviewing it because the ending was like being bucked off a horse without any warning.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. I loved the queer representation and the very happy, very queer ending for Adele. I also enjoyed her as an avenging angel, especially as the time period was so very restrictive for women (and queer people!). I want to join Nan's family as it is just a lovely example of why having a place where you can be entirely yourself with zero judgment is so important. The main issue I had was

the sudden reveal of Rochester as an incestuous would-be rapist who had been masquerading as Adele's beloved pen pal Eric for years. It was a huge shock to me. I've read other Jane Eyre-adjacent adaptations such as Wide Sargasso Sea, so I fully realize a lot of people hate Rochester (with good reason). I've just never seen him as irredeemably bad and Cornwell's Rochester is absolutely irredeemably bad. Which is why Adele kills him with her now trademark "toss man from a great height" MO (really appreciated the realism of this being the most effective way for her to kill). 

I struggled to see how Adele had always known this "darkness" in Rochester, even how he might have planned this from the start of taking in Adele. Reading the author's note at the end and her story of being sexually abused by her father helped me understand it better. I can understand now why the author saw a similar darkness in Rochester in Jane Eyre that she saw in her own father. I don't know that I see the same thing, but I can appreciate the author's perspective and how she channeled her story into Adele's.

I was leaning towards three stars but having sat with this for a while, I'm upgrading to four because overall this was a very good story and even if I may disagree with the author's interpretation of Rochester, I appreciate the interpretation. It's one of the things that I enjoy most about retellings and adaptations: the differences in how people interpret characters and plot points. Definitely want to read more from this author!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Murder, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent

Some of these content warnings are specifically about the ending of the story (gaslighting, incest, pedophilia). If you want to know what happens:

Rochester reveals that he is really "Eric" the boy that Adele has been writing to for years and that she fell in love with. He then tries to convince Adele to essentially become his mistress but he'll set her up in a separate home so they can pretend they are married to the locals. It's also clear that he has been faking or exaggerating his illness to get Adele to come home from her boarding school. Then he tries to sexually assault her and as they are fighting, she deliberately tosses him out a window, killing him.

As for the queer characters, it's clear that it's taboo to be a lesbian or trans, and keeping those things secret is important. However, there isn't any active lesbophobia or transphobia. And no one is hurt because of their queerness, although plenty of women are hurt for being women.

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

3.25

I'm such a huge fan of Jane Eyre, and I'm not sure why this book just didn't grab me. I am very pro Rochester-is-trash, but I don't think I liked seeing him as like a disgusting predator. I guess because I really like Jane, and I don't want to think that she ended up with just a true sack of moldy potatoes.  I would like to give this author another attempt though, because I may have just come in with too many of my own feelings on the original text!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

maddiereadswords's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, and Death of parent

awakeningbiblio's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

This books was a complexity of things and sometimes I wasn’t sure what was happening. After listening to the authors note I gain more perspective than just listening to it. However the narrator was fantastic. I’m also not sure if I would classify this as young adult or new adult. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

kekepania's review

Excellent writing and very mood-matched to Jane Eyre. The sexual abuse undertones became too central and as problematic as Mr Rochester is in the original Jane Eyre, the implications felt like an unfair twist. Reading Jane Eyre prior to Reader I Murdered Him will help the reader immensely!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

toorsdenote's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Confinement, Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization

tlholmes's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Incest