Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

12 reviews

sonygaystation's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I wasn’t quiet sure where this was going to go, even with it being a Frankenstein-inspired book. Sometimes the character actions felt a little confusing (ie. between Iris and Vi) but as it got further and further in the book I just got sad for everyone. I do wish there was a little more build up to the twist (which I did feel I started to guess pretty early on) rather than just spending time with the characters for the sake of it. I loved Eric he had my whole heart and I was sad at That One Part ™️. Also I enjoyed what was really going at the end, like give me more of that please!! It felt like a Mindy McGinnis novel there and I love her books 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Blood

skysbooknook's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Car accident and Medical content

jillaay_h's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, and Medical content

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.75

in the 1970s, Vi and her brother live with their brilliant psychiatrist grandmother, who brings home a new "sister" for them.  Iris is mute and has injuries.  Slowly she comes out of her shell and the children have a club where they imagine they will hunt monsters.  In modern day, now as adults, one of the sisters is hunting the other one, who she suspects of being a serial killer.  Sounds good, right?  Unfortunately, it is pretty obvious which sister is the latter-day narrator, so the surprise falls flat.  There are a couple of other twists that are pretty obvious.  There is a fake out regarding the murdering sister that was nicely done, but then it is walked back.  On one hand, I think the book needed that final punch, but on the other hand, I am not sure how I feel about it affecting the message of the book about people being the real monsters. 

If people are the real monsters (and Iris believes there are real supernatural monsters too), and you have to kill your monster to start over and live, aren't you also becoming a monster?  Are we all just monsters?  If so, doesn't that lessen the impact of the "real" monsters among us? Aren't we supposed to be able to rise above our upbringings?  You could argue the grandmother created a monster in Vi, but Iris turned out more or less fine. As I said, I am ambivalent.

I would have vastly preferred we spend more time with the adult sister.  The story in the past kind of dragged on, since it was super obvious what was happening with both Iris and Vi.  I was also hoping for more from the Mary Shelley angle, but oh well.  This was a fine book and I enjoyed reading it, but I literally forgot I had even read it two days later, which is reflected in the rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Murder, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Mental illness

libraryghost's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Car accident, Ableism, Body horror, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Mental illness

gondorgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

espressoreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book throws the unexpected at a person.  It takes eugenics, an aspect of the world past, and likely present, which Americans like to pretend didn’t happen in the USA, and puts it in your face from the perspective of kids.  I was surprised multiple times in this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Torture, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

An awesome, spooky and twisty take on "Frankenstein." It was so good that I often forgot that it was a retelling. It's so good at standing on its own in that way. I feel like there isn't a lot that I can say about this book without giving stuff away - I went into it mostly blindly and all I knew was that it had creepy kids and that it was a Frankenstein retelling. That's all I needed. So, if that's all you need, pick it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Gun violence, Murder, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Animal death, Child death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism

Moderate: Fatphobia and Incest

Minor: Abortion, War, Self harm, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Excrement

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

If you love Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” you will really enjoy this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

There are descriptions of surgical scars and brainwashing, as well as some queer subtext.

beholderess's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Car accident, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death