A review by stephxsu
The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

2.0

Such an important lesson to make people aware of—about what abuse in a relationship looks like—but unfortunately the impact was diluted by the writing. The use of flashbacks to reveal details of the relationship meant that there was an unfortunate “telling not showing” overtone to the whole story. Having survived an emotionally abuse relationship myself, I really wish that Bourne had chosen to reveal what abuse looks like in a slow and suffocating accumulation of its little details, instead of stopping every time Reese did or said something and almost saying to the reader, Red flag. Do you see this? THIS is a red flag/gaslighting/etc. It’s easier I think to ignore an individual’s specific actions that are explicitly labeled, for example, gaslighting than it is to realize that tiny little nuggets of wrongness here and there escalate into all-encompassing abuse before you realize it.