Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - The Girls in the Garden

Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

27 reviews

jesikakaley's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Very predictable

Content Warnings

violentte's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

For starters these kids are bad af, however this book does do a great job at depicting how fast kids are in the UK.

As readers we are baited into thinking something more sinister has happened but,

no a death didn’t happen. I thought this maybe a murder mystery but it wasn’t - so you can imagine how disappointed I was.

Below are some spoilers.
-

Taylor is the classic UK mean girl. She becomes territorial over the men in her life (Leo and Dylan), and lashes out on the girls around her. Because her own mother is just like her (and encourages this bad/dangerous behavior) there’s no one to fix how she is. The fact that she didn’t get caught annoyed me the most

The only good character in this is Pip, she acts her age and is one of the most harmless kids in this story. I read this for her and I loved the innocence she brought into the book.

Grace is rude, too rude at that, but to give her a fair chance in this review, she is peer pressured into growing up too fast by the group of kids she hangs around. The fact that she covered for the girls that attacked her was insane, but like Pip said, it allows them to continue to do this to others.

Claire is a bad mother, and not a well developed character. I think all of these parents are neglectful in a way, and have a very hands off approach to raising their kids once they are pass the age of 9. She keeps their father away from them which makes sense as to why BUT this isn’t developed enough. There is a lot of things (for all characters) that happens off the pages and we are readers are just supposed to be fine with that. It weakens the characters and the plot. The only smart thing she did was move her family out of that area because all those girls were a danger to her children.

Now that I’m at the end of the book I don’t think Leo is as much as of a threat that Pip makes him to be. I think he is a bit touchy feeling (in the way of someone that hugs almost everyone) but I do not think he’s after any of the girls. That being said, Pip is just really well aware of how fast all those other children are which is why she’s so on edge.

Dylan seems like a nice kid, he cut of Taylor and I think it’s partly because he knows she is CRAZY. But the closer of him and Grace still being together really wasn’t enough.

Overall, I wish the characters were more developed. The parents allowing their children to get away with putting another child in A COMA is crazy. Adele allowing Taylor to move in after all that is stomach turning.

Content Warnings

c0d3nam3qt's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

This is the second Lisa Jewell book that I have read. (The first being “None of this is true”) If I hadn’t bought this one years ago, I don’t think I ever would have read another from her. After reading this one, I can confidently say, this one is my last.

I really dislike the marketing of these two books. They don’t lead on to the type of content within and I think it is inappropriate to not make the reader at least somewhat aware. These two books deal with very dark and disturbing content. From looking into this author’s backlist, it seems that the majority deal with the same few incredibly dark and triggering subjects, but no where is it warned. The front of this book has this kitschy whimsical drawn map, but there is no whimsy here.

Following spoilers also spoil “None of this is true”.

There are so many parallels between this story and “None of this is true”. Both have men that are objectively bad people, that don’t get even a slap on the wrist for their abhorrent behaviour. Or other characters try their absolute hardest to defend those men’s actions. The whole time you are supposed to think it is one of these awful men that did yet another awful thing, but sike it’s actually a female victim(s) turned evil/crazy/violent. Everyone who could have stopped it or could prevent something else from happening, just makes excuses and basically says it’s none of their business. Or even goes so far as to destroy evidence. There is no justice for anyone in either novel.

Content Warnings

lothwolfjedi's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense slow-paced

3.5

Une tranche de vie dans un parc communautaire au centre d'habitations dans le centre de Londres, dans lequel évoluent une bande d'enfants, libres et soumis aux affres des débuts de l'adolescence. Les adultes sont à la fois inquiets mais distants, avec leurs propres problèmes...Lisa Jewell explore ici à la fois différents types d'éducation, la difficulté de s'intégrer dans un groupe, la vie en communauté, ses possibles et ses limites...J'ai apprécié ma lecture, mais la fin m'a parue tellement injuste, de tout point de vue, que je ne peux pas mettre plus de 3.5. Il n'y a pas de finalité, à la fois pour "l'enquête" et pour chacun des personnages...très frustrant.

Content Warnings

madisonrose1519's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

Fast paced. Kept my attention, particularly after a really tough-to-beat reading slump.

Likeable characters. Weird to read a book from the perspective of so many young teens now that I’m an adult. But it was done very well. The perspective shifts were exceptionally written. Pip’s point of view sounded exactly like my own early teen diary entries. Skillful writing for sure.

I wasn’t blown away by the ending. The “red herrings” referred to by some reviews were quite obvious to me. I was not particularly shocked by the whodunnit. I would say the ending was satisfying and everything was tied up into a neat little bow. Personally, I like to be left a little mind-blown and frustrated by the ending of a mystery, but I can’t say I hated this ending. It just felt a smidge lackluster.

Overall glad I read it, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to a friend unless I was asked about it.

Content Warnings