Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

La Servante écarlate by Margaret Atwood

75 reviews

sorkka's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I listened to the audio book and found this novel to be the most beautiful prose I have ever heard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Animal death, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

riverofhorton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

I went into this book having watched the series, as each season was released, so the first was largely forgotten, although I did remember the vague plot. I personally would say the series is better than the book. For a start, the writing style took a bit of getting used to, especially with the way flashbacks are presented, but once I got used to it I did find it to enjoyable and thought provoking, but the series was more enjoyable and had the same thought provoking bits. I think that had I read the book first, I wouldn't have been interested enough to then watch the series, and may have DNFed the book before getting used to the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

eldritch_ace's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

eryncaroline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I started watching the TV show as the seasons have been coming out and I had never read the book, which I knew I needed to correct. I love and appreciate this show and was so excited to finally read the book. It was a surprise to me that "June" in the book is nameless, and that hits much harder than I expected. I was also shocked that this only covers the first season of the show, but what a fantastic story. The storytelling and the perspective of the book really envelop you. I felt closer to the characters because of the show and genuinely felt myself wishing this book was much longer. The ending really surprised me, and I read that final chapter with my mouth wide open. Fantastic storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

puseyhawk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

OMGOODNESS!!! This was STUNNING! The writing… delectable. The story…  challenging. The world building… encapsulating. The questions raised… confronting. The future portrayed… terrifying. 

This was such a dark, difficult, disturbing, yet gripping read. I was so taken aback by the writing style, the voice, the main character, the themes, the world building, the complex issues and ideas being addressed, the narrative structure, and even the narrative framing device used at the end. This is a complex and layered yet very primal emotional read. Just a harrowing tale to read. Honestly… I just loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

Minor: Antisemitism, Abortion, and Alcohol

nomili's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kayjezza's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

The story is sort of based around the concept of sort of mandatory sex with a random person assigned to you. And that person is treated like Harry Potter in his broom cupboard, except they go to school for child bearing not magic and aren’t allowed to have friends.

sashtastic3's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.5

A very good book. The story telling was interesting as was the dark horrific plot. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of indication of who was speaking and the lack of quotation marks in the book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

_elli_'s review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting

sav_22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Oddly, I did not feel as strongly for this as I did the show adaptation. I feel like it wasn’t as easy to connect to the story as much. Pacing was quick and it left you feeling hollow and sad; this was likely the point, but it didn’t really have any development other than world-building. this has a nihilistic perspective, which can be more impactful for the message depending on how you go into it.

the show covers this entirely in just season 1, except a few passages here and there. The show explores this concept far more deeply and gives Offred more depth and personhood. Her real name is never mentioned in the book, as the show takes many creative liberties to explore the concept more.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Self harm, and Abandonment