Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

5 reviews

tammyanntchou's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Child death, and Sexual content

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The plot of this book is compelling and finding out what happened in Sri Lanka that led Paloma to the life she has in California drove my desire to keep reading. That said, Paloma is very, very unlikeable. So detestable that had it not been for an intriguing plot, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book. She treats everyone like garbage and is only concerned about herself. There is no growth or change over the course of the novel. She’s just mean. The twists and turns of the novel do, in some ways, make up for the faults of the protagonist though. All in all, it was a fun read that kept me on my toes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Car accident, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death of parent, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

alexandratheroux's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

A difficult read due to the genuinely horrible personality of the unreliable narrator but I'm super glad I stuck it out because the last 3rd of the book was twisty as hell and very worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Confinement

serendipitysbooks's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 My Sweet Girl is a psychological thriller. Paloma Evans grew up in a Sri Lankan orphanage but was adopted by an American couple when she was twelve. At the time she thought she was the luckiest girl in the world, and that her life proper was really about to begin. But at age thirty things are clearly not going so well for Paloma, and she is haunted by a secret from her past.

Plot wise there’s a lot going on including a dual timeline (I found the orphanage storyline the more compelling), an unreliable narrator, a disappearing dead body, a possible stalker, nosy and suspicious neighbours, not to mention a ghost.

Overall the book was fine. Detracting from my enjoyment was that I suspected the major twist very early on. Additionally I often found Paloma and her behaviour very irritating and couldn’t always bring myself to care about what happened to her. The pluses for me were the explorations of race, immigration and transracial adoption.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Moderate: Mental illness and Murder

ohhthehorrors's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Stalking