Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

32 reviews

clare072's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Gore, Chronic illness, and Body horror

Minor: Confinement, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Child death

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Confinement, Hate crime, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I have never read a book like this. I have been wanting to get into more eerie books and this totally scratched that itch for me. If you are a fan of spooky but not horror this is definitely for you. There is a lot of gore and body horror stuff that left me thoroughly unsettled. It reminded me of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. The whole story was dark and brooding with little flecks of hope and the writing made the characters and setting come to life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Pregnancy, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Addiction, Colonisation, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Abandonment, Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, Infertility, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Racial slurs

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

absolutely brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Confinement, Fatphobia, Grief, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Addiction, Rape, Animal death, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Domestic abuse

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is nothing like I expected. The beginning was a little slow but once the plot took off it was very fast paced. The ending was so good. This is a movie worthy kind of story. It is really fun, action packed and full of twists. 

The characters do feel a little flat though. They aren’t fleshed out totally and the main character makes some choices that felt a little out of character. It isn’t enough that you are totally taken out of the story but it does make you pause a second. 

Overall it is a really good book, and you won’t go wrong reading it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

loristoudenmier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Confinement, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Self harm

dustghosts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Sorrowland had a little bit of everything that I wanted from the other horror books I read this past October. Visceral and mysterious body horror intertwined with a really compelling and (unfortunately) timeless, unflinching look at the mycelium of systemic racism (colonialism, human experimentation, systemic poverty and the lengths it might drive someone to, religious bigotry, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia and interphobia— etcetera). I think this should be a must-read for people who lean too heavily on “blaming the system” while turning away from personal responsibility for the way that participation in those systems hurts people specifically. Vern is a complicated protagonist with mostly uncomplicated motives— and she compelled me more than anything else about this book. The supernatural “twist” to the story doesn’t soften the issues at hand, but underlines it. At times, it this read a bit too blunt/heavy-handed for me— but by and large this felt like a purposeful narrative choice, so it’s splitting hairs. The horror and the sorrow and the misery of it all is balanced, all the way through, by a thread of tender togetherness that I think will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Murder, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Racism, Addiction, Cancer, Cannibalism, Car accident, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Gun violence, and Suicide

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

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

4.75

GOD i did NOT heed the trigger warnings and I honestly don't even have an excuse like I knew this was a horror novel and still picked it up. don't make my mistake and please be safe. Anyway this BOOK!!!! /pos
absolute fucking masterpiece

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Self harm, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, Trafficking, Rape, Excrement, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Infertility, Terminal illness, and Cancer

graphic: cult

melliedm's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Medical content, Self harm, Body horror, Cursing, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, Child abuse, Colonisation, Police brutality, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Hate crime

noahsingh's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, Animal death, Sexism, Medical content, and Stalking

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Police brutality

Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs