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onkenzisshelf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙:
🦋 Very much a page turner! I finished this in a single day.
🦋 You literally can't trust anyone in this book - the entire time I went back and forth as to whose "side" I was on.
🦋 There's a big twist at the end that I did NOT see coming!
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝘿𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🦋 Felt a little bit like a knock-off of Gypsy Rose Blanchard's story, but Wrobel put a BIG spin on it.
🦋 I thought it kind of glorified Munchausen's by proxy a little bit? Like yeah, we hear about the horrible things done to Rose Gold, but it felt like Rose Gold was able to just kind of get over it like it was no big deal. Along the same lines, Rose Gold was WAY more self-sufficient than she should have been after 18 years of horrible abuse.
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙄𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙:
🦋 If you're interested in learning about Manchausen's By Proxy and love a good thriller, this is for you.
🦋 Very much a page turner! I finished this in a single day.
🦋 You literally can't trust anyone in this book - the entire time I went back and forth as to whose "side" I was on.
🦋 There's a big twist at the end that I did NOT see coming!
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝘿𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🦋 Felt a little bit like a knock-off of Gypsy Rose Blanchard's story, but Wrobel put a BIG spin on it.
🦋 I thought it kind of glorified Munchausen's by proxy a little bit? Like yeah, we hear about the horrible things done to Rose Gold, but it felt like Rose Gold was able to just kind of get over it like it was no big deal. Along the same lines, Rose Gold was WAY more self-sufficient than she should have been after 18 years of horrible abuse.
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙄𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙:
🦋 If you're interested in learning about Manchausen's By Proxy and love a good thriller, this is for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Cancer and Kidnapping
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. The opinions herein are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.
Okay. Here’s the thing. I’ve been interested in true crime since I was 14. So that’s an even 14 years I’ve been up in true crime’s business. I watched the whole documentary on Gyspy Rose Blanchard and have read the articles available. When I got Gypsy Rose vibes from this book’s summary, it activated my grabby-hands. I’m pleased to say that while this book draws inspiration from that case, it’s an entirely different story in its own right.
Rose Gold Watts had been sick since she could remember. She had a wheelchair, a feeding tube, and the sympathy of everyone who met this sick little child. Then one day she learns of Ipecac syrup and its unfortunate tendency to make people vomit after they’ve ingested it. And isn’t it weird that her mother never gets sick after eating the same things as Rose Gold?
Surprise! Rose Gold’s not sick, but her mother very much is. Munchausen’s by proxy is a real illness, and Patty Watts suffers from it hard core. Rose Gold tells a close friend that she thinks her mother is giving her Ipecac syrup, and her friend--rightly so, I may add--calls the police. As it goes, there’s a trial, Rose Gold testifies against her mother, and Patty spends the next five years in prison. Rose Gold takes her in after she serves out her sentence. What could go wrong?
This book is twisted. But not in the “wow who would do this omg” kind of way, like it’s unbelievable. It’s twisted because deranged people like Patty Watts actually exist. “But, Caitlin!” you say, “I thought you just said that Munchausen’s by proxy (MBP) is an illness?!?!?!”
Yes, it is. That doesn’t disqualify Patty Watts from being out of her gourd. Depression and OCD are illnesses, but I’d never in my life even considerpoisoning my family for sympathy. I have physical reactions to giving people small mistruths because of my OCD. Imagine what would happen if I gave my husband Ipecac. I’d vomit too, from sheer guilt.
“Rose Gold was a victim!” you say. Yes, she was. But she also had so much growing that she could have done and held onto her bitterness and thirst for vengeance instead.
Listen, I’m not saying this book wasn’t enjoyable. It was. We have to come to terms, though, with the fact that these people exist. It’s twisted because it’s real. It’s interesting because healthy individuals don’t do the things that Rose Gold and Patty Watts do. It’s enjoyable because we get to live out a nightmare scenario in a safe space, and that’s called catharsis.
I usually don’t go for “thriller” type books, and I think mainly that’s due to me being terrible at picking them. But Wrobel did a really good job here. I gave it three stars because the plot was predictable, and that’s a forgivable point seeing how this is a debut novel.
Wrobel’s writing is tense and crackles the story into fractures as it goes. I probably shouldn’t be impressed, but I am. Usually MFA thesis books do little to live up to the quality you expect from that degree’s program. Wrobel lives up to and past that bar, though. That’s what impresses me. This book served as her MFA thesis, and I didn’t hate it. The plot moved. The characters were three dimensional and as rotten as people can be in this here real world.
A couple of events happened for what felt like no reason, and I couldn’t figure out how to fit them into the frame of the story. Every piece of dialogue needs to do something for the story, whether it’s building character, revealing something new, moving the plot, or building the world. The treadmill and the garbage can broke the tension when they happened instead of ratcheting it up. Patty’s backstory could have been incorporated better instead of just brought up and left for us to suss out, too. I would have LOVED if Wrobel had found a way for that to really play into her personality and character, instead of giving her a sad backstory for what seemed like the sake of having a sad backstory.
Overall, not bad! Definitely had trouble putting it down. Definitely needed fine tuning in those few areas, but like I said. Not bad for a debut.
Okay. Here’s the thing. I’ve been interested in true crime since I was 14. So that’s an even 14 years I’ve been up in true crime’s business. I watched the whole documentary on Gyspy Rose Blanchard and have read the articles available. When I got Gypsy Rose vibes from this book’s summary, it activated my grabby-hands. I’m pleased to say that while this book draws inspiration from that case, it’s an entirely different story in its own right.
Rose Gold Watts had been sick since she could remember. She had a wheelchair, a feeding tube, and the sympathy of everyone who met this sick little child. Then one day she learns of Ipecac syrup and its unfortunate tendency to make people vomit after they’ve ingested it. And isn’t it weird that her mother never gets sick after eating the same things as Rose Gold?
Surprise! Rose Gold’s not sick, but her mother very much is. Munchausen’s by proxy is a real illness, and Patty Watts suffers from it hard core. Rose Gold tells a close friend that she thinks her mother is giving her Ipecac syrup, and her friend--rightly so, I may add--calls the police. As it goes, there’s a trial, Rose Gold testifies against her mother, and Patty spends the next five years in prison. Rose Gold takes her in after she serves out her sentence. What could go wrong?
This book is twisted. But not in the “wow who would do this omg” kind of way, like it’s unbelievable. It’s twisted because deranged people like Patty Watts actually exist. “But, Caitlin!” you say, “I thought you just said that Munchausen’s by proxy (MBP) is an illness?!?!?!”
Yes, it is. That doesn’t disqualify Patty Watts from being out of her gourd. Depression and OCD are illnesses, but I’d never in my life even considerpoisoning my family for sympathy. I have physical reactions to giving people small mistruths because of my OCD. Imagine what would happen if I gave my husband Ipecac. I’d vomit too, from sheer guilt.
“Rose Gold was a victim!” you say. Yes, she was. But she also had so much growing that she could have done and held onto her bitterness and thirst for vengeance instead.
Listen, I’m not saying this book wasn’t enjoyable. It was. We have to come to terms, though, with the fact that these people exist. It’s twisted because it’s real. It’s interesting because healthy individuals don’t do the things that Rose Gold and Patty Watts do. It’s enjoyable because we get to live out a nightmare scenario in a safe space, and that’s called catharsis.
I usually don’t go for “thriller” type books, and I think mainly that’s due to me being terrible at picking them. But Wrobel did a really good job here. I gave it three stars because the plot was predictable, and that’s a forgivable point seeing how this is a debut novel.
Wrobel’s writing is tense and crackles the story into fractures as it goes. I probably shouldn’t be impressed, but I am. Usually MFA thesis books do little to live up to the quality you expect from that degree’s program. Wrobel lives up to and past that bar, though. That’s what impresses me. This book served as her MFA thesis, and I didn’t hate it. The plot moved. The characters were three dimensional and as rotten as people can be in this here real world.
A couple of events happened for what felt like no reason, and I couldn’t figure out how to fit them into the frame of the story. Every piece of dialogue needs to do something for the story, whether it’s building character, revealing something new, moving the plot, or building the world. The treadmill and the garbage can broke the tension when they happened instead of ratcheting it up. Patty’s backstory could have been incorporated better instead of just brought up and left for us to suss out, too. I would have LOVED if Wrobel had found a way for that to really play into her personality and character, instead of giving her a sad backstory for what seemed like the sake of having a sad backstory.
Overall, not bad! Definitely had trouble putting it down. Definitely needed fine tuning in those few areas, but like I said. Not bad for a debut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Bullying
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Infertility
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
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