Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

46 reviews

clairelikesbooks95's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Good book! Like nothing I’ve ever read. Took me a little effort to get into it, which is saying something because it’s so short, but then it moved very fast. The language was very unique/poetic which was cool, but that also kinda slowed me down.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting

chris_reads's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

kschuster's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This might be my new favorite book. Such a unique voice, incorporation of diversity without tokenization, and simple but powerful symbolism. Obsessed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

iseefirede's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

The pacing of the book felt off. The first part was pretty slow and uninteresting, but then everything seemed to happen in the last few chapters of the book.
Beyond that, it was a wonderful read filled with diverse characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Child abuse and Dysphoria

Minor: Pedophilia, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishperseus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

gwenswoons's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

So unusual and truly marvelous in the most literal sense. I LOVED You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty, one of my favorites of the last many years, and thought Vivek Oji was amazing too; but this is my first YA of Emezi’s, and I wasn’t sure what it might be like. But it’s gorgeous - their writing always stuns me and leaves me breathless and this is no different. I thought it was truly incredible, in a work that is so accessible for younger readers, to have language so eloquent and perfumed in the way Emezi’s always is, and to be able to approach the heaviest and most devastating topics of humanity with a light enough touch that a younger reader could live inside this story. I’m not someone who loves fantasy  - I don’t read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and sometimes supernatural elements lose me a little bit - but Emezi’s writing is just so beautiful and so compelling at every turn that I didn’t even give a thought to whether or not I believed what was happening (I just: did). Same, somehow, too, with the allegorical/archetypal elements: these could be so obvious and heavy-handed on another writer’s desk, and yet Emezi’s world building and story crafting are so exquisite that every element of the story - every word, every turn of phrase and plot - feels inevitable. Such a gorgeous read, and I thought the audio was gorgeously narrated, too, by Christopher Myers (something about this book as a dark fairytale/ parable worked really beautifully for me in audio format and I feel like Myers really captured for readers that feeling of listening to a story - so good).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and War

ebp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Physical abuse

pm_me_book_recs's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

How can something be absolutely heart-shattering and optimistic at the same time??

Beautiful portrayals of Autistic, Neurodivergent, Disabled, Queer, and Non-binary people. No one being singled out for any of the above, disability being accommodated naturally, and queerness is normalized. 

The idea of "monsters" is a great way to convey dangerous traits and is probably an easier way for kids to understand how racism, ablism, pedophilia can curdle and consume when not addressed. I absolutely loved Jam's pushback of eradicating monsters- in an age of purity politics, we absolutely need revision! True justice over prosecution, and the elimination of the prison industrial-complex. Big big topics scaled to be digestible for adults and kids alike. I am just so impressed.

Mentions and allusions to pedophilia and violence against children, but none really depicted or described. Gaslighting referring to adults not believing a monster is again present. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Self harm

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Violence, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape