Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

82 reviews

anne_reader's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Incest, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Stalking, Addiction, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

kleinekita's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I don't know how to feel.

No one in the book is reliable or can be trusted, but it seems to be true that Josie and Walter's relationship began when she was a teenager and he was in his forties. HE IS A PEDOPHILE AND SHE WAS ABUSED. No matter what happened later or if she "manipulated him".

The audiobook has great production though, 5 stars for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, and Stalking

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Infidelity, and Confinement

flying_monkeys's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.0

Hooked me from almost the first page, and the first half was fast-paced and had me asking all the questions, but then I got the ick. Why?

It started to read like we're meant to believe that because a 15-year-old girl may be a psychopath, she wasn't a victim of grooming/SA by the 42-year-old man she ends up marrying at 18. I kept on reading, my thought process being, maybe this is simply the viewpoint of the pedophile, but no, others started to say it. Their "testimony" supporting the notion that the crazy, narcissistic teenager was at fault. That it was all her doing.

For me, the book plummeted from a 4-star read at that point.

I will say, I actually enjoyed the ambiguous ending because, to me, the whole point of this story is the malleability of memory and truth, and while an unreliable narrator is, well, unreliable, they are telling us their truth from their (perhaps curated) memories. This makes them suspect and we can never trust anything they're telling us. Certainly some of what they're saying could be true, but how can we tell the truth from the lies? And how do we avoid invalidating their real experiences when buried under a mountain of selective truths?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Stalking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

Minor: Confinement

craigpwmoroney's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book keeps you guessing until the end. It's narrative is told by multiple people each one, unreliable in some degree. It is hard hitting, but a very good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Gaslighting, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Grief

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.0

When it comes to ambiguous open endings, I usually don't mind because I can imagine what I want to follow as an epilogue.  That requires having a good foundation though and this book lacked that in spades.  When the title is the book, you question everything.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Bullying, Drug use, Excrement, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

4.75 ⭐️

0.25 off because a pedophile is a pedophile not matter the twist

This had my jaw on the floor many times. Somebody order a wellness check for Lisa Jewel because her mind is just 🤯

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Drug use

kjackowski's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Confinement, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Murder, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, and Eating disorder

thevanessa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5/5⭐️



It was really good, but I wouldn’t recommend it, at least not without a full list of trigger warnings😅

The audiobook though 👏🏻so good👏🏻 one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to! The voice actors gave it there all and really sold me the story, so much so that it felt real

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Grief, Incest, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Confinement, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Stalking, Torture, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content

lilybarna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Incredible audio book! Finished in a day!! What a tale. I felt each twist and turn. I still need to process the ending/the whole thing!! I feel like I need more information and more of a resolution, but I get the insight that part of what we must grapple with is our insatiable relationship with true crime, and wanting to try things up with a bow. First LJ book but won’t be my last!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Confinement

lizziaha's review against another edition

3.5

My only problem with this book is that it didn’t quite stick the landing. The alternating perspectives of the original timeline and the podcast worked really well, and pulled me in. Having the before and after perspective built tension and kept focus even during slower parts of the story. So for the climax of the story to be told largely off-page felt a little off. I also think (and a lot of thrillers fall into this trap) that the author valued plot twists over a completely coherent plot. Both were subtle—the twists and the inconsistencies—but they both detract from each other. I sort of wish that we’d been able to get a little more into Josie’s headspace as well, though that would’ve perhaps ruined some of the twists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Blood, Infidelity, Confinement, and Domestic abuse