Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

51 reviews

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.

---

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

okiecozyreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

Lisa Jewell is so good at coming up with really creepy characters who have disturbing thought lives! This is no exception. 

Alix Summers is celebrating her 45th birthday at a pub and another woman Josie Fair notices they share the same birthday and lets her know they are birthday twins. Josie realizes Alix is a podcaster and comes up with an idea to tell Alix her story because she needs to change her life. 

It appears everyone has already read this one!
But if you like
- unreliable characters
- questioning of what is true (hence the title)
- a mid-life story
You might enjoy this one!

“Anyway, it’s weird isn’t it? The idea of two people being born in the same place, at the same time…
…
But to meet one of them. On your birthday.” P15

“He doesn’t deserve to know every last thing she does. Nathan has his own priorities, his own secrets. She should have some, too.” P81

“… got what you might call an elastic relationship with the truth… When she doesn’t like the reality of things, she finds a reality she prefers.” P163

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Eating disorder

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.

---

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.

---

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

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

---

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

nadstorro's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Took me a while to get into. The ending gave nothing. This book was on my TBR since its release and it did not deliver. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Eating disorder

ariellereadsbookss's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was pretty full of twists and turns, so many honestly. I was not expecting this read to be so controversial and saw the protagonist as a victim at the start but some things are revealed along the line. It was definitely a book that kept me on my toes. If you are into thrillers, this is the book for you. There was a lot of mystery that comes to a reveal toward the end. And you get a sort of full satisfaction of what you read throughout the book. The main character is VERY controversial and a compulsive liar who seems like she is addicted to lying but you don't know it until it's too late. The content is not extremely graphic but there is some blood mentioned and a dead body. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Murder

thetearex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Grief, Infidelity, Child death, Stalking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Incest, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

girrllie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Like binge watching a show and getting to the end and saying, “What did I just read?” A waste of my life even though the writing is excellent. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Stalking, Kidnapping, Grief, Child death, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

yennn's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Josie and podcaster Alix, meet by chance celebrating their 45th birthday. Josie, feeling that destiny is at play, reaches back out to Alix and proposes a new podcast project about ‘her truth,’ which is dark and gets darker. As they continue to unravel Josie’s story, the line between observer and participant blurs, and the point of no return is crossed.

This was a very chilling and dark read - despite all the cues that told me to turn back, I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook. The pacing was a little slow at the beginning, but it artfully traps you in the plot’s web before it reaches a fever pitch and culminates into a perfect ending. 

I loved almost everything about this, despite not being a strong reader of the genre. I loved the plot twists, which left me guessing and gasping until the end, and the disturbing themes were just tolerable. I am giving it 4 stars because I wasn’t utterly in love and was not a fan of the themes covered and how they were portrayed and resolved. However, I did recommend it to someone immediately after reading, so I'd give 4.5 stars if I was in the habit of doing that. 

Please check content warnings, as the content definitely may not be for everyone. Includes themes such as paedophilia, abuse and many more.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder