Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

121 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.

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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

josiemeyer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual harassment, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

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

anarobin's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

adventureandcalm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Addiction, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

bethghoul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Stalking, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

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

mhinch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Incest, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Violence

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Stalking