Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Изгубените цветя на Алис Харт by Holly Ringland, Холи Рингланд

14 reviews

jstilts's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

2.0

Beautifully written, I nevertheless found this book an absolute slog of a read. Terrible things happen to Alice throughout the book, which is heartbreaking, but terrible things fill the lives of the dozens of other characters as well to the point of ridiculousness. Everyone is damaged by death or abuse - even the most minor of characters - for instance a vet, who appears in a handful of paragraphs, has a dead wife and child on his mind. It's eye rolling and exhausting. A character we meet early on and only return to very late in the book has a child die at 5 because everyone needs a tragedy. Everyone has a story and every story is miserable.

Characters make the worst possible decisions at all times just to drive the grimness onwards and make Alice's life as miserable as possible. Her lov ng grandmother absolutely ruins Alice's life and the motivations are all incomprehensible beyond the author wanting their character to suffer.

Where I really gave up is when - SPOILER - Aluce falls ridiculously deeply and savagely in love literally at first sight with someone who of course turns out to be an abuser. I realise that it's not uncommon for victims of abusive families to find themselves with abusive partners but she didn't gravitate towards him, she didn't know the guy at all, so that's not what is happening here - it's just Alice Must Suffer!

Honestly, I wouldn't have finished this book if it wasn't chosen for a book club I'm hosting.

Utterly exhausting, which is a shame as it's beautifully written. One quirk is that most chapters feel like they could be the ending - at times it's like reading a collection of short stories that tell one narrative. I'd be tempted to try the author again so long as the subject matter is entirely different.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Deportation

beckyjmcc's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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? It's complicated

2.0

Important subject matter in this story. The author has clearly put much effort and energy into writing about issues that I care deeply about.

... but I couldn't stand the writing. Almost DNF'd. Painful to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

snoogler's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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? Yes

2.5

the setting surrounding this book was great, i could really imaging the aesthetic flower farms and the australian desert and the like, but that was the only win for this book. the plot was based solely around Alice’s trauma, and while it is important to talk about matters like abuse and destigmatize them , i found that the characters and plot was flat overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

abrown04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

2.5

This book was amazing in terms of the comparisons to flowers and everything, but it just had so many loose ends and things that didn’t make sense. June? I would fight the old lady, what an absolute bitch. Clem? Absolute asshole with a saviour/guilt complex. Dylan? Exactly the same as Clem. And Alice? She just let everything happen and never tried to do anything about it. Not only that, but she ignored the only guy that would’ve been good for her. And Oggi? JUSTICE FOR OGGI AND MOSS!!! 

It ended abruptly and felt rushed towards the end, and it felt like Alice hadn’t actually resolved any of her trauma. Absolutely mad at how it ended. 

Paperback. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer

jailala's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

An excellent contemporary read! This book spans the first few decades of the main character's life (while also exploring the past of her family members to explain why she is being raised the way she is) so it can feel a bit disconcerting if you don't know this.

There are three almost separate seeming 'chapters' of Alice's life explored so it helps to know that going in- otherwise, the break between her early disjointed childhood understanding into the people caring for her in the second part can through you.

The third part, told more from her adult perspective was fairly easy to read (though the topics she works through can be triggering to some- brutal!)  Another author might have simply told the story only from that third part- throwing in bits and pieces in flashbacks to help you understand.  As it stands, we are led through Alice's life from beginning to her final growth into an adult on her way to a well-rounded life and we get a much more complete picture because of Ringland's choice of structure.

I found this choice of structure particularly intriguing given Alice's constant struggle to get the caregivers in her life to simply be straight with her and explain her family's history to her once and for all already!
Those who do not understand their history and, by extension, their family's history, are doomed to repeat the same bad patterns over and over.
Hiding the past almost never ends well and can actually be quite destructive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Stalking

While the entire book is cathartic, in order to get to the growth of the main character the story goes to some pretty traumatic places. None of it is over-the-top or used purely for effect. All of it has specific ramifications and growth relation to the characters.

alicejm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

A good first novel, but very clearly a first. The writing style was disrupted and jolty. The main characters weren't given room to breath, and the side characters (who were by far the best characters) weren't given enough time. The lack of communication between family members was infuriating and unnecessary. This is not the book for you if you find miscommunication frustrating. The first half and the second half were written very differently. The mystery aspect was really compelling though and I enjoyed wondering about things. The exploration of generational trauma was also very well done. If you want to find out more about flowers, this book ain't it sadly. All the flower meanings are made up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

mari_teran's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty

kiwichill's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Deportation

Minor: Medical content

june_haya's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Vomit and Stalking

spellygirl's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-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

3.0

Really unsure how to rate this. I liked the flower language. I liked the parts with Moss and some of the other Flowers. I liked the stories about the tourism and indigenous people. I liked Sally 

It was also very slow paced, jumping around a lot
And committing the same mistakes as so many others. I know it happens in real life, but it still bugs me. 

Checking trigger warnings is recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Stalking