Reviews tagging 'Classism'

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

14 reviews

latasharm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

This is the type of thriller that I live for. The one that sneaks up on you in ways other than the ones that you are expecting. I was pretty close guessing where this story was going to go but never could I have ever guessed the way that we got there or the precise ending. Kate Alice Marshall has a gift and a curse. She goes dark and it gets deep. This one left me absolutely gutted. I would love to see this book play out as a limited series on Netflix or Prime. The right cast could do wonders with the characters penned and circumstances paged here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mhh831666's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

idk if it's really a 5 star thriller or if I'm just emotional because I'm 4 days sober from those fun life ruining opiates but either way, I can't think of any way to improve this one so I suppose it's a 5 star 🤷🏼‍♀️. plus it's beautifully written and the characters are so real you can taste them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

unicornofthesea's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Stalking, and Gaslighting

kathywoo10's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

littlemissanalog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

tifftastic87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

OMG this BOOK! I am obsessed. 

Naomi, Liv and Cass have been friends since they were five and Cass decided they would all be friends. The summer when they were all eleven everything changed with Naomi near fatally stabbed and her and her friends putting away the serial killer that did it. The story jumps forward to Naomi, now 33, still dealing with her trauma and returning to her home town and her friends. We unpeel the layers slowly and go back in time to relive that summer and experience what really happened through Naomi's eyes. Small town drama, PTSD, and lies stacking on lies shape the tale we experience. 

Without spoilers this was the most twists in a book I have experienced in a while. I thought I knew what was happening and then I thought I was wrong and then I thought I was right again and then it turned out I was half right. I hit a point where I would have died or killed for Naomi. The story was constantly moving to the next plot point but still giving us a full feel of the characters involved. It was a perfect balance that I really enjoyed. 

Trauma and PTSD were handled really well and with care. I appreciated how themes were discussed in a way that wasn't self-indulgent or just straight up trauma porn, actually Marshall seemed to call out authors who are solely focused on that through the use of Naomi's boyfriend in the beginning. We get this sentence, among others about him, that allowed me to instantly know who he was. 

 The trouble was he’d mistaken drama for virtue and suffering for art, and felt impoverished by his own good fortune. 

He, Mitch, spends his spare time writing stories using Naomi's trauma as the center of the story. He is convinced she needs to use her trauma to sell her art instead of photographing weddings and this results in some pretty heated arguments. She says he was an asshole, she knew he was an asshole and so did he. But she was only comfortable dating assholes, someone she could never attach to - been there girl. But when she goes home to gather her things in the middle of the book there is a scene that reveals his true nature, and some of hers. 

 What the hell just happened? I should have just fucked him so he could feel like he was helping. 

When she doesn't allow him to sleep with her, he kind of loses it and kicks her out. After he promised her he wouldn't try anything. So, he's also that kind of asshole. One of the best parts, for me, was her overcoming these choices. She never shies away from it being why she does it:

 Every man I’d slept with had been a mistake of one kind or another. The mistake was the point. You couldn’t let someone in without it breaking you, but you could choose the way you broke. 

But she seems finally ready to move on from that. It just kind of made the story for me. We got so much of the character development inside this twisted story where you never know who is good and who is bad and the main character herself is morally gray and unreliable. 

Hard recommend, but check the content warnings first. 

Some more thoughts on little girls being absolutely feral forest goblins: https://youtu.be/AMY_324xjfQ?si=d5ABP_BHxWypgJOs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

chasingpages1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

theaceofpages'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Oooh this was a good book. I was a little bored and uninterested at the start, but once the plot started I was hooked. Naomi was attacked in the woods when she was eleven and very nearly died. She remembers nothing of the attack, but her two best friends tell her that they know who the attacker was so she helps send him to prison. Naomi returns home to see them after she hears of her attackers death. After

one of them dies under mysterious circumstances in the very same woods that she was attacked in

, Naomi decides to look into the past and try to piece together her own memories of that day. With the help of a podcaster who came to town to interview the Naomi and her friends, she starts to uncover far more than what she bargained for.

The author is very talented at building up suspense and evidence. She slowly builds up a logical argument and quickly breaks it down again. While I did see one or two of the twists coming, this book managed to surprise me more often than not. I appreciated the deeply flawed characters and our clearly unreliable narrator. The latter definitely contributed  lot to the mystery and intrigue of the story. While I didn't find any of the characters to be likeable (most of them annoyed me actually and I would have wanted to throw something at them more than once if they were people I knew in real life), they were well-written and believable - something that is definitely more important than likeability in a good story. It was very frustrating that nobody seemed to want to go to the police, but that they would rather do it all themselves. I also loved that the author touched on the issues of confirmation bias and corruption as these are definitely real issues in the legal and criminal industries. I feel like she has built and ingrained these in the story in an incredibly effective way (even we become guilty of it multiple times).

I can definitely recommend this book if you are interested in a small town mystery full of questions and twists with an unreliable narrator.  Once the plot gets started you are in for a crazy ride as you dive into the past with Naomi.

Some notes on some of the content warnings (all are spoilered individually so you can only look at those you are interested in)

 
Mental illness: 

Naomi struggles with PTSD nd Olivia, one of her friends, is also mentally ill

 
Gaslighting: 

Naomi's friends and the media have muddled up what she actually remembers and what she was told happened. Trying to disentangle this is an important part  of the story.

Sexual assault/violence/pedophilia/adult-minor relationship: 

Nearly exclusively things that happened in the past. For example, Naomi was sexually assaulted as a child. Her ex also tries to come onto her but she pushes him away.

Medical content: 

Naomi's treatment

 
Cancer: 

The man accused of being Naomi's attacker died of cancer.

 
Xenophobia: 

Anyone from outside the town is seen as lesser. This impacts the treatment of the new police chief, who is just tryin to do her job.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Classism

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

I selected this as a Book of the Month add-on because I heard so much hype about it and I was curious.
"What Lies in the Woods" follows Naomi. When she was eleven her, Cassidy, and Olivia were inseparable. The trio created the Goddess Game to fill their summer days and bring magic to their life. However, one unfortunate afternoon, Naomi is attacked and barely makes it out alive. Now, twenty years later, Naomi comes back to her small hometown to try and finally figure out if they put the right man behind bars.
This story was intense. There are a lot of heavy subject matters discussed, but I felt like the author did a great job at writing the story thoughtfully and sensitively.
I did not love Naomi as a character, but I was still invested in her story. She is exceptionally flawed, and she has a lot of unresolved issues, rightfully so, from her attack. She is very untrusting of most people in her life, and she is very critical, but she has the biggest soft spot for Olivia. She is always there to talk Olivia off of a ledge, and I love seeing Naomi be soft for someone.
I did not really see where the story was going, so I was ultimately surprised by the outcome. The story sat at a solid 3 star for me for most of the book, but I really loved how everything was revealed and wrapped up.
I do not think this book is for everyone, but I did enjoy it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism