Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

18 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

One sentence review: Unlikeable characters, gothic vibes, and page turning reveals. 

Hal has money troubles after her mom passes is faced with a threatening loan shark shaking her down for funds she doesn’t have. When suddenly, she receives notice of a mysterious inheritance from a grandmother she doesn’t know. She scrounges herself together and flees to Brighton to learn more, but didn’t expect to have to deal with family tensions, secrets and threats when she arrived…

A popcorn thriller that will ultimately be forgettable to me. I liked the tarot elements, which added in some interesting omens and foreboding. I also enjoyed Maggie’s diary entries. This was probably the most gothic and atmospheric part of the whole book, I could feel the sun on my skin during the lake scenes. 

But what I couldn’t stand was the main character Hal. She just seemed so wimpy and clueless throughout the book. The way she was characterized made me feel like I was reading a book much older than it actually was. 

Overall, not my favourite of Ruth Ware’s works but still worth the read for those gothic vibes and twisty mystery that I didn’t expect! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content

mrsmishler's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Incest

anissawren's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book got so confusing. Almost like Ms. Ware wrote herself into a corner, and then had to get really creative to make everything kind of work out. Also, I feel like the whole plot point about

Hal owing a bunch of money to the creepy guy

was just not really resolved? Truly, it's my own fault for continuing to read books that I'm not really into haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

larareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy

Minor: Physical abuse

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was an intriguing novel, with lovable characters and multiple successful red herrings. I did see some of the twists coming, but I wasn’t always entirely correct about the particulars. That kind of twist - where I can guess that there is one, and can guess maybe something or things about it, but other things I didn’t expect are revealed later - is my favorite. It’s the best of both worlds: I get some of the satisfaction of guessing correctly, but also enjoy the surprises the author had in store for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol

growintogardens's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I figured most of it out, but I enjoyed it and liked Hal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 I have slowly been making my way through Ruth Ware's backlist, and I knew when I found this copy of "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" at a library book sale, that this would be next up on my Ruth Ware reading list.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pregnancy

katymat18's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Car accident

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

Out of the 3 Ruth Ware books I’ve read, this is easily my favorite and also her most like-able characters so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, and Classism