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crabcake28's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Sexual harassment
mainereading's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
I've watched a few movies based on the original novella, and I was really excited to pick this up. Surprisingly enough, I haven't read the original novella yet and I really need to! I liked this book, and I ended up reading it in one sitting. It was a wild read with an interesting twist. Some of the characters had me ticked off. A couple of the kids were spoiled little brats that should have been disciplined and the men in this book were trash. Overall, I liked this book but I didn’t love it and I really wanted to love it.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
lavaly_1's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Infidelity and Gaslighting
nataliacdd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Gaslighting
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent and Murder
chicitytyty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
That made it difficult to side with Rowan as things around her seemed to descend into madness. At each turn I yelled at her to leave, to call someone, and each time I was disappointed when she continued on her path.
The final 10 pages or so of this book tied it together. It made all the disparate pieces fall into place and left me with a sense of gloom and despair that these horror/thrillers can tend to do.
All in all a good read but I want to consume some of the material based on the original story “A Turn of the Screw” and it’s Netflix adaptation “Bly Manor” to make better comparisons.
Minor: Child death, Blood, and Gaslighting
pershie13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol
bek_p87's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death and Gaslighting
rorikae's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
The story is told through a letter that the protagonist, Rowan, is writing to her barrister from jail. A girl in her care has died and the crime has been pinned on her. But Rowan has a story to tell that she believes will exonerate her.
I really liked that this story was told through letters though this was really only relevant in the beginning and ending as the majority of this narrative is one giant letter that takes up 95% of the book and thus feels more like simple 1st person narration.
Ware does a good job of injecting the creepier elements of the story so that the reader questions what is really happening right alongside Rowan. This creeping sense of dread grows slowly as the narrative progresses. I do think that a little bit more could have been done with the atmosphere and it did leave me with questions based on a side story that was touched on but never fully resolved. It wasn't crucial to the main plot but I would have liked a bit more closure on that part. The story also hints at Rowan's fate but doesn't fully spell it out without enough details for me to be sure what happened.
The ultimate truth of the story as it came out was a bit disappointing and I had hoped for more though that is definitely based on my personal preferences for thriller stories. I also don't love Rowan as a character and found her ultimately fairly unlikable and thus hard to root for.
Though I would be interested to read another book by Ware since I think she does a good job with atmosphere, I would go into it with hesitations since this story wasn't as gripping as I would have hoped for.
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Infidelity
ssarahbbeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest and Sexual harassment