Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

8 reviews

teamlauren11's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Wow. Just WOW. I loved it much more than I thought. Maybe more than the 1st one. An eye for an eye. A son for a son.

  Carrie killed Pfeff, causing his mother and father to lose their first born. And years later, she suffered from the same fate. 

I didn’t expect the twist but I spoiled it for myself anyway, it was surprisingly not shocking. She did say she was a liar. Bro and Penny. Ugh, forcing herself to be straight. Wow. The book was heartbreaking, especially considering the people they become. Which isn’t too great, but it makes sense now why they are the way they are.

BRO THE DAD HELPED THEM COVER UP THE MURDER. HE TOOK THE BOARD. Ugh Carrie is also an unreliable narrator just like Candace was. Fuck bro.

And don’t get me started on Rosemary.

She saw her for 5 summers. Her baby sister that drowned.

Ugh. I wish penny could be out. I just want people to be happy in this book, but literally no one is ever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

kayleejanes's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Toxic friendship

mororke's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

guivx5's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

 When I reviewed
We Were Liars,
I said:
"I still have the sequel to read, and I hope it doesn't suck."
Well,
I'm glad to say it didn't!

Lockhart had a terribly doomed job here: to write a worthy new story based on the universe of a success she wrote almost ten years ago, a book that was so unique in it's style it would be hard to avenge. Thankfully, the task was accomplished, and now we have more lies to be shocked of.

I see Family of Liars as a great expansion of the first book's universe. The Sinclair family has a twisted charm to their tale that guaranteed my interest here, no matter what. You simply want to know more about them, it's undeniable. But then, what could she write? After the shocking story of Cadence and her friends, the broken family full of intrigue and ambition? We Were Liars was an ambitious story itself. I had to find out what's up with their past. Turns out, it wasn't pretty.

Now, let's talk about reading experience here. This book has less strength than it's older brother, simply because it doesn't benefit of the surprise factor. That was taken away by the first story, so it is an inevitable fragility. But I do think Lockhart handled well with this weakness, and soothed it as much as she could, which made the story still full of surprises. The characters, both old and new, were as intriguing as ever, and the plots involving the long-known family of liars were really good. I feel like the second third of the story could do with a bit more of clues and intrigue, but that's just me. Overall, the story is as well built as the first one in terms of consistency. But I do have a big caveat:

Rosemary

 

This could be just me playing with my frustrated expectations, but I do feel like Rosemary deserved a better plot. I mean, it's The Sinclair Family we are talking about, I don't believe she just died on an accident. Her presence could be more meaningful, specially revolving around her motives to visit Carrie. Even if she just died like that, even if this is really her only motive, to look out for her sister, I feel like this wasn't developed enough. It should be brought up more during the chapters. But sorry Lockhart, the only way to redeem yourself here is to write a third book, a prequel where we learn the origins of Harris and Tipper and how they were the real guilty ones behind Rosemary's death. You just have to do it, or I won't raise my rating on this book on my next reread.

Again, I think Lockhart gives us mystery and suspense done right. And this is a great expansion upon the first novel, maybe with a few hiccups towards the middle and in the need of a little more development here and there. It is, ultimately, worth reading if you liked the first book.

Now, how long do you guys think she'll take before deciding to write another prequel? I don't want to reread this too much before she releases it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

safety_pin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Outing

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This was good. I really didn’t know what to expect when I went into this but I enjoyed it. The writing style is odd like we were  liars were, but after a while you just get used to how it’s written. I honestly really like the main character and she did nothing wrong I mean she did but I forgive her. This also made me tear up at the end. I think if you enjoyed we were liars you should pick this up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

mysterymom40'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

ghosts