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lbg352's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
thebookpaiges's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
stephmcnutt28's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Characters: To be honest, the characters fell flat for me. Obviously the each had flaws, and there was an attempt to make those flaws a part of the story, but Mariana came off as whiny, petulant, and childish instead of tortured and in a healing process. Everything about her actions felt overly exaggerated.
Plot: the plot was fine until the twist. It felt like nothing really lined up to make the twist seem plausible. It felt more like playing a game with a three year old and partway through the game they change the rules without explanation. The way some of the loose ends were tied up felt hasty and amateur. I just didn’t feel satisfied at the ending.
I did think it was neat how the author tied into The Silent Patient.
Overall, this book did not live up to the social media hype for me.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting
regent_ace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I enjoyed the atmosphere of it and I liked the main character a lot and sympathized with her.
I thought the red herring in the book got repetitive after a while and I really disliked the twist at the end. I felt the ending left a bad taste in my mouth (metaphorically)
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
jen1804's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Plus I’m a nerd for character crossovers so I was very pleased to see Theo make an appearance from Michaelides’ other novel The Silent Patient.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Stalking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
hermione_gilmore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
4.5
There are some heavy topics within so def check out content warnings.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
mheiling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism
marisa_n's review against another edition
- 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
I loved the plot twist at the end, as I didn't suspect Zoey. I thought it was Henry or Fred for most of the book. That said, I was left feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the explanation, but was having trouble articulating why it didn't make sense. It wasn't until I started reading the negative reviews and all the plot holes that these astute readers were referring to that I realized the genius of this book:
all of the characters were unreliable narrators.
There was Mariana, who clearly had a blind spot when it came to recognizing the signs of toxic and/or dangerous people. From her brushing off the dangerous implications of a client stalking her. Her instance that her father was a good man, despite his neglecting her as a child. Her poor character judgment with her niece, despite others implying she was unlikeable. Her memories of Sebastian as a romantic, nurturing man, despite something nefarious happening behind the scenes. Her openness to pursuing something romantic with Fred in the end, despite his love bombing and over-stepping boundaries--which, as a therapist, she should have recognized as a red flag. Mariana clearly is a poor judge of character and has questionable judgment in general.
Then there was Sebastian, who supposedly wrote the journal entries throughout the book. His journal entries were dark, and very unlike how Mariana described him. They also left unanswered questions. Did he kill his mother, or did she just leave and never come back? It's unclear, but it's suggested that he killed her and then rewrote the memory as a dream.
Then there is Zoe, whose "motive" includes details that are clearly at odds with Mariana's recollection of events. How could Sebastian have gotten with Mariana just to get to Zoe if he didn't meet the child until well into the relationship? How could he be in love with Zoe from the moment he saw her if she was just a young child when they met? Sure, he could have been a pedophile, but pedophiles tend to have a preferred age range, and he didn't sexually abuse Zoe until she was 15. Lastly, Zoe claims Sebastian strangled Mariana's father, but Mariana said he died of a heart attack--and what medical professional would mix up the two causes of death? Not to mention the weirdness with the Maidens / Fosca viewing Zoe as one of them, despite her saying she'd only joined them one time. Basically, nothing she said could be taken at face value.
Therefore, this isn't so much of a "whodunit" so much as a web of unreliable narratives to untangle. It left me with so many questions. For starters, how much of Zoe's story about the affair (read: sexual abuse) and subsequent murder plot was real?
My interpretation was that Sebastian had a history of physical (maybe sexual?) abuse at the hands of his father. He likely murdered his mother as revenge for trying to abandon him. He grew up to be a dangerous man, repeating the cycle of abuse. Mariana was blinded by love and only saw what she wanted to see (a doting husband). Sebastian sexually abused Zoe, but it was probably opportunistic and did not start until she was older (13ish?). Zoe was a young girl who was groomed and abused by a father figure, and then created a narrative of forbidden love to make sense of the trauma. Sebastian fed into her delusions by swearing one day he would leave and/or kill Mariana so they could be together. When he died, Zoe wanted to kill Mariana, her mother figure, to get revenge for taking away Sebastian, but also for shattering her delusion of him. The Greek tragedy theme really plays in nicely here with reference to adult-minor relationships, abusive father figures, revenge, fate, sorrow, etc.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
tbell0211's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting