Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

5 reviews

alex_conners's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I really just don't think I was the audience for this book. It's well written. The characters made sense. The POVs shifts were relatively unobtrusive.

I simply didn't love it.

I don't like the pedophile question being dangled for the entire book. It's a thriller and obviously made to make you feel uncomfortable. It did that. But it wasn't the kids doing kid things. It was the hovering question of if Leo was taking advantage of these children like he had in his past. I just don't appreciate those kinds of plot lines. Then the actual reason that Grace is hurt is because we just pit two girls against each other over a boy who barely speaks in the books is.... just not my thing.

I will say once again that I think Lisa Jewells novels don't need prologues. This is the second time I've read one of her books that was kind of ruined by jumping forward and then back. It didn't let the story build naturally, I already knew the climax, so I spent the first two 180-page waiting for what I already knew was going to happen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

c0d3nam3qt's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Medical content

sydvaldez's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emory's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Felt more like a 250 page set up for the

'it was the poor neglected sociopathic child all along!'

plot twist than an actual story that someone wanted to tell or that anyone wanted to hear. The whole subplot about the husband also just annoyed the hell out of me for so many reasons. Weird ending and an even weirder takeaway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia

placebogirl's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny