Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

46 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Nope. Nope nope nope nope absolutely not, nope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, and Pedophilia

ohyeahshebomb's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

the only time that gaslighting is okay (me, I have been gaslit)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Chronic illness, Confinement, Pedophilia, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, Child death, Excrement, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, and Sexual assault

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I want to start out by saying that I really loved this book, and I would highly recommend it to any thriller lovers (except make sure you check the content warnings!). It was so dark and so creepy and so incredibly engaging. I really could not stop reading it. It's also a super fast read, which was exactly what I was looking for when I picked it up. This book is getting a good bit of hype right now and I think it deserves every bit of it! I was a little nervous going into it since I found another book by this author to be predictable and slightly boring, but this book was anything but! I was so invested in the story the entire time, and I don't think there was a single moment that bored me. It was entirely unpredictable too. I didn't guess any of the many plot twists, and trust me, there are a lot. This entire book is made up of plot twists, really, and they are all so well executed. Honestly, the main reason I'm not giving this the full five stars (even though I really thought I would for the first half of the book) was because I don't think it's going to stay on my mind the way I would want it to. Of all the genres I read, I find thrillers are the easiest for me to forget about unless they are five star favorites. I think I might forget aspects of this book, so I don't think I can give it a full five stars. I just didn't get that feeling I usually do when I've found a new favorite. That being said, this book was incredible, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested! However, as I said earlier, make sure to check content warnings, because there are a lot of topics touched on in this book that can be incredibly triggering for some people!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

pdealwis14's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Physical abuse

bookie22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse

david_slack110507's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

My first Lisa Jewell book and it did not disappoint. I listened to this rather than reading it and I feel like listening to the audiobook version made for a better experience of the book as not only did it add voices to the characters and gave them additional personality but it also allowed for the podcast transcripts, interview clips, and parts of the documentary to all come to life better than they would have on the page with some really good sound design. 

This was a very messed up story that focuses on the blurred lines of what is true and what is false and how far someone will go in lying to themselves, so they believe it, particularly with Josie in the ending. Josie was an interesting character to watch as when from her perspective she repeatedly lies to the audience and shapes the narrative in a way that suits her and what she truly believes is the case and it is only later on that we start to be encouraged to question whether or not what she is saying is truthful and has any merit to it. Alix felt like at times she was a representation of the audience who are trying to piece together Josie's story while also eventually coming to point out the lies in what is considered to be the truth. I felt like the two were very interesting characters to follow as they interweave in and out of one another's lives. Josie's story of being a victim, whether her narrative is real or not, does not place her as a villain because of the things that she has said has happened to her and the subject matter is dealt with in an appropriate fashion without being written off when it comes to light that at least certain things are proven to be not true. 

The ending of the book was a major highlight for me as it seemingly wraps up the story in a clear and concise fashion in which every major plot point or secret is explained and its importance is revealed only for the final chapter to be from Josie's perspective to flip the narrative on its head due to how it questions the finality of the ending and whether or not the narrative has been properly revealed or manipulated due to who is control of it. In the ending, Josie seemingly believes that she is innocent and has done nothing wrong including the murder of her daughter, Roxy's, friend Brooke which she blames on her daughter. I liked this to be the ending chapter of the book as not only is it a good representation of the theme of control of a narrative but it also ends with the 'true' narrative of the book being up to the reader as to whether they believe what was accepted as the general truth by the majority of the public, the truth believed by Josie (that is most likely a narrative she created to avoid taking the blame) or maybe a bit of both (e.g. the murder of Brooke could be what Josie said that it was not actually her but her daughter and so she along with her family helped cover it up linking back to what Walter feared earlier in the book about something being revealed to the police). Even though it appears that it has an open and shut case ending, it could also be picked apart and given a different interpretation depending on the reader which made me appreciate the writing even more. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my first Lisa Jewell book, and it makes me excited for whenever I get around to reading the other books I have of hers as well as the rest of her books. The twists and turns that were consistent throughout kept me invested and the characters particularly our main ones were very interesting in themselves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Grief, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Addiction, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bringmybooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

2.5

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗬𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦 ✨ 

I sorta kinda accidentally buddy read this with a friend and I remember both of us finished around the same time and sent each other text messages that said something like "wtf did I just read" and then we started comparing notes and even though I originally rated it a 4, as we kept chatting and talking about plot points and so on and so on I ended up moving my rating down to a 2.5 because honestly wtf did I just read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Drug use, and Eating disorder

crose84's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

annie_brewer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

Listened via audiobook (Audible)

Well the title of this book is

Spoiler

None Of This Is True

. And I have hidden the title, as it is the greatest spoiler of them all.

It is an easy read with good writing, but the story is just not there. isa Jewell did excellently to create some an unsettling feeling in her book and the build up is well paced, but all the reveals are hinted at too heavily for any climactic occurances in the novel to feel monumental or suprising.

I also am not sure listening to the audiobook has influenced my experienrence,  as the layers of recording for a podcast/the podcast/ the Netflix documentary are a bit clunky , but I don't know if even being on paper the format changes would do the story any favors.

I first read 'The Night She Dissappeared' by Lisa Jewell which I thought the mystery was incredible and was so keen to keep absorbing the story (although it is very outrageous and farfetched) and would reccomend that novel to be enjoyed rather than this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

sarahmae531's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Needed a good thriller and this did not disappoint! If you’re a fan of unreliable characters, this one is for you. So many varying accounts of events leaves you wondering who is telling the truth, if anyone.
I’ve heard such good things about Lisa Jewell but this is the first book of hers I’ve read. I’ll definitely be picking up more in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, and Infidelity