Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

33 reviews

weeta'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don't remember when I added this audiobook to my library holds list, and it arrived during a string of unlikeable, uninspired narrators and half-finished stories I really wanted to like more. I had low expectations, and didn't remember anything about the book or why I added it to my list. But Xe Sands began reading this to me and suddenly this story and Sands' perfect narration took over several days of my life. It's a dreadful (in a good way) mix of true crime feels and unaddressed family issues rising up late in adulthood...and then you realize there is a LOT more going on in the basement. So much wtf. I loved it so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Abandonment and Death of parent

al_owl's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

readrienne's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

Heavy read with an interesting premise and good pace but I wasn’t satisfied by the ending/ preternatural elements. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Confinement

cateyeschloe's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is like a chilling, horrific nightmare come to life. And I mean that in the best way possible. 

The writing is outstanding, and the author does a fantastic job of communicating what visceral dread, fear, and terror feel like in an all-too-real way. 

I also have to applaud Gailey (they/them) for the absolutely WRECKING descriptions of body horror they include in this book - both in general and especially in the nightmares. 

Just Like Home is absolutely the best book I’ve read when seeking tension and edge-of-your-seat mystery. 

Before reading, I was wary of the somewhat tropey “woman who had troubled childhood returns to her childhood home and drama unfolds” plot device, but this book took that idea and bolted with it in directions I never saw coming. 

Gailey’s writing style is fluid, deep, and beautiful. Over and over again, they call back to passing comments, ideas, or thoughts from the first hundred pages of the novel, and those touches explode with new meaning and metaphor in a stunning way. 

At one point after our MC, Vera, injures herself, Vera’s mother is intentionally too harsh in the way that she cares for Vera’s wounds - causing unnecessary additional pain - and yet she is still simultaneously showing care for Vera - a rarity in and of itself and something that is treasured. This statement follows:

“Maybe, Vera thinks, this is just what love is like.”

The concepts of love and family and what it means to be “good” and what it truly means to love are a constant throughout the story. 

Nearing the end, this novel feels truly unhinged and I started to wonder if I could depend on Vera to be a reliable narrator given what I was reading. Nothing is held back and Gailey does a phenomenal job of leaning into the disturbing, the unsettling, and the concepts of what reality can look like. 

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. 

I absolutely will be adding this book to my personal collection and genuinely can’t wait to read it again. 

This book absolutely comes with trigger warnings, so feel free to check those out if you’d like the heads up!

“She needed them to be two different creatures.

“The mother and the monster.”

Wow. Just wow. 

I had to put the book down for a few moments when I got to this line. 

If you’ve ever lived with someone, especially a parent, who you felt held a semblance of a monster, then you can relate to this quote. 

Gailey did an immaculate job of summarizing the gut-wrenching need for your parent to not truly be the monster that terrifies you, that haunts you.

“It was wearing Daphne, and it was Daphne, and Vera couldn’t think how to delineate the two of them in her mind.”

“It had always been inside Daphne and this was why Daphne had never ever felt like a mother was supposed to feel.”

God, this part is heartbreaking. Vera has a desperate need to make real the idea that, if she cannot separate mother and monster, then it must be the monster’s fault for why her mother abused her, why her mother hated her, why she was always met with vitriol and disdain. It was the monster’s fault, right? Beyond her mother’s control. She would have chosen to act differently if she hadn’t been plagued by this secondary force. 

Which makes it all the more heartbreaking to realize that The Creature wearing Daphne was never the monster at all. 

To realize that The Creature was trying to soften and silence Daphne’s violence and hate. 

To realize that Daphne was a monster all on her own.

I’ll end with what I feel is one of the most impactful quotes from the book, at least for me. 

“He didn’t know how to shelter us from all the hurt that was waiting, because he thought that hurt was the shape of love.”

This is such a brutally accurate look into what it’s like living with abuse. If being hurt by your loved ones is all you’ve ever known, then it’s very easy to believe that’s what love looks like and that’s how it’s expressed.

It takes a lot to realize that maybe there’s another way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Terminal illness, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Vomit

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was maybe the most scary and horrifying book that I've ever read?? Gailey does body horror and body descriptions like no one I've ever read. Will definitely read them again, but whew, this was terrifying. My only little things were that the reveal felt a little bit muddy to me, and I kind of felt like I was bonked in the head with the idea of stains/residue over the course of the book until I was sure that it was meaningful in some way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Vomit, and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

The gore and torture totally made me lose my appetite until I finished the book, so beware, my sensitive-to-words friends!

shoffschwelle's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Not my usual wheelhouse as I'm not a horror fan, but it kept to more thriller characteristics and a surprising amount of focus on her relationship with her dying mother and remembering her father who has passed. I've been hearing about Sarah Gailey for a while and she delivered, even in a genre I normally shy away from, showing her skill as a writer. Definitely picking up others of her books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse and Torture

Had a hard time ranking the level of all of these. Book description explains that she's coming back to her traumatic childhood home, the home of her now dead serial killer father and the complicated relationship she has with him and her mother. Most descriptions are pretty minor to moderate considering the genre, but it's pervasive. Certain sections ramp up with more detail though. I'm not a fan of horror, gore, body horror, etc. but I could handle this. The emotional relationships and abuse might be even worse in some areas, especially if you have past experience.

acbrummitt's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

I think this book was overall really good, but at certain points in the story it felt confused and muddled. The pacing was weird at points but the story was really strange and entertaining.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Torture

vaguely_pink's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Grief, Mental illness, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Cursing, and Kidnapping

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Medical content

emrbarber's review

dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Body horror

beyourownkindofyou's review

dark

• 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

2.5

I had high hopes going in to this book - gorgeous cover, creepy vibes. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it. I felt like it was trying too hard to be creepy. The actual syntax and style seemed to change ~1/2 way through the book, which threw me a bit. In the beginning the phrase "the house her father built" is very overused. I thought the big reveal was a bit boring too. Overall, not the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness