Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

53 reviews

bethanyf22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Murder, and Domestic abuse

oliviareese's review against another edition

emotional slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

all characters complicit in child abuse and child sexual abuse

illiteratewench's review against another edition

4.5

None of This Is True (2023) by Lisa Jewell is a thriller novel that follows two women, Josie and Alix, who are birthday twins. They were born on the same day in the same hospital but at age 45, their lives seem drastically different. Josie is starting to feel deeply unhappy with her life and looks towards Alix's with envy. Alix is a podcaster who usually interviews successful women, until Josie promises her that her life story is a crazy one that deserves to be heard, and while she isn't a successful aspirational woman, she can become one. 

The only reason this isn't a 5 star is that I'm sure sure some of the themes hold up under lots of critical thought and analysis. It was for sure a 5 star experience, I stayed up to finish it and didn't want to put it down. It's twisty and turny and you're never sure whether or not Josie and her story should be trusted at face value or not. 

The things I don't think hold up with deeper thought are

themes of p*dophila and age gap relationships. Spoiler for the ending of the book! As you read, Josie slowly goes from victim to villain as her lies are unraveled and it's revealed she killed someone. Simultaneously, her husband goes from villain to victim. 

Josie's husband Walter is 27 years older than her. They have been together since she was 15 and he was 42. He was a contractor doing electrical work on her family estate, as well as dating her mother. He was already cheating on his wife and two sons with Josie's mother, eventually leaving them for Josie. 

Josie twists many things about Walter but these are facts that, to me, are irredeemable. The fact that Jewell tries to pull a "but he's actually a really good guy!" on us with a man who cheated on his wife, then cheated on both his wife and mistress with the mistress's underage daughter who he marries and has another 2 kids with, is insane. Especially when the mistress, Pat, claims that Josie (again, her 15 year old daughter) was a sociopath who seduced Walter to steal him from her. I'm sorry but a grown man cannot be seduced by a child unless he is a p*do. End of story. 

So yeah, that leaves me really conflicted with how to rate this. But again, the experience was just so fun and juicy at the time. My rating might be inflated because I don't really read thriller, so maybe one day I'll look back critically and bump this down, but at the moment I still really enjoyed the book and the experience, but I would hesitate to recommend it for this reason.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Rape, and Stalking

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit and Bullying

tthatguyty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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

2.5

The concept of the story is great- just not the best execution. 3rd person pov is hard to follow personally and makes it hard to connect to the characters. It took a bit to just gather what was going on and the end felt very rushed and the true ending just makes you feel “that’s all?”  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexual assault, Incest, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Death

ofarkas's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Death

lbrady2396's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Toxic friendship

roselynreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

Minor: Suicide

mpswans1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Omfg I have not experienced that level of psychological thriller in such a long time. Although o thought I knew how it would end, every twist made me think I had no idea. I stopped in my tracks multiple times to say “oh my god wtf”. Full of ambiguous truths, complicated (or are they?) and motivations.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Misogyny, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

finnc's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Incest

ella_christina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Misogyny