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feathers4bookmarks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was incredible! Asylum stories always draw me in, and this one is the most incredible novel I’ve read regarding an asylum to date. The depictions are graphic and make you feel like you can smell what do, heart pounding in tandem with the characters. The story is tragic and the institution and premise are real, making this an eye-opening experience. The author did a wonderful job paying homage to the facts and resources in her Author’s Notes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Confinement, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization
ladysquiddles's review against another edition
sad
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? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Abandonment, Murder, Violence, Ableism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Minor: Drug use
ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
4.25
Wow. This book is so good! The content in this book is not for the faint of heart. This is a historical fiction novel that depicts the infamous Willowbrook State School on Staten Island.
Sage Winters was led to believe that her identical twin sister died six years ago. She just found out that was not only false, but that her sister was institutionalized all those years ago at Willowbrook State School and has now gone missing. Sage heads to Willowbrook to hopefully aid in the search, but when she gets there she is mistaken for her sister and forced into the institution where she must now survive the atrocities thrown at her. How will she manage this when everyone around her believes her to be delusional?
There is a lot of really heavy, gruesome, gory content in this book. The fact that a lot of this book is based in truth sent me down the rabbit hole researching Willowbrook and I have to say that this book was a decently good representation of what happened there. Obviously, Sage and many of the other characters are fictional, but the things they endured were not. Some timelines were skewed to fit the author’s story.
I was definitely drawn into the story! I was able to predict where things were going toward the end and I did find the story to be pretty repetitive in certain instances, but overall this was a really interesting read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for offering this digital copy for review!
Sage Winters was led to believe that her identical twin sister died six years ago. She just found out that was not only false, but that her sister was institutionalized all those years ago at Willowbrook State School and has now gone missing. Sage heads to Willowbrook to hopefully aid in the search, but when she gets there she is mistaken for her sister and forced into the institution where she must now survive the atrocities thrown at her. How will she manage this when everyone around her believes her to be delusional?
There is a lot of really heavy, gruesome, gory content in this book. The fact that a lot of this book is based in truth sent me down the rabbit hole researching Willowbrook and I have to say that this book was a decently good representation of what happened there. Obviously, Sage and many of the other characters are fictional, but the things they endured were not. Some timelines were skewed to fit the author’s story.
I was definitely drawn into the story! I was able to predict where things were going toward the end and I did find the story to be pretty repetitive in certain instances, but overall this was a really interesting read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for offering this digital copy for review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use
Minor: Cursing
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