Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

A Família Perfeita by Lisa Jewell

86 reviews

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ashsupahfire's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? No

3.25

It took me some time to finish the first 40% of the book. Same with most thrillers, it’s a slow start where we set the scene. I finished the rest of the book in one sitting. 

I also would not call this a thriller as there was no stakes, just a mystery in an old house. 

If they would have keep the mystery of the lurking person in the house going on longer, or connected the ex husband to the mystery, or expanded on the being locked in Henry’s room thing longer, maybe

All of the subplots felt forced but the narrator of the 1990s cult section is what we really kept me sprung on this book as a habitual DNF’er. The present day storyline does get its big twist but I will still say the cult storyline is where I intensively read. 

Would have been nice if they expanded more on the two siblings clearly having the murder gene. Sure both were accidentally but neither felt phased by it. Or maybe that was an oversight of the author or not having them display any empathy for their dead parents. In a way I can see how all 3 deserved to die but both went immediately into clean up and escape mode. Clemency seems to be the only one traumatized.

I could read a second book where they learn more about the children of the cult 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Stalking

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

frankensteinscreature's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

I have rather conflicting feelings about this book, I picked it up as a blind date with a book and it’s not something I would usually gravitate towards. I think the writing style was objectively bad but it did draw me in (I suppose that is what thrillers are supposed to do). It could have been good if not for the horrendously stereotypical and frankly homophobic depictions of the one queer character clearly written by a straight woman that does not like gay men. The sort of predatory relationship that she wanted for the story did not need to manifest itself in such a homophobic way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

nctbriize's review against another edition

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

4.75

You are learning wha  happened from different perspectives that is unreliable. But twist is shocking.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

loonysaurus'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Abortion, and Deportation

caprireads215's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

minnie_bee_holmes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Check trigger warnings before reading. This made me feel kinda dark after I finished it- it was such a wild ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

h_elene's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

stellahadz's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.75

This book definitely had a cool premise, but some parts of the execution fell a bit flat. The "cult" aspect of the story could have been way more interesting if there were more of an explanation as to why

Henry and Lucy's parents fell prey to David's manipulation

. I also didn't find the big reveal especially surprising. It seemed like a lot of the plot relied on the idea that evil people are just evil for no reason, which is rarely true. The plot was just creepy enough to keep me reading the book, and the unreliable-narrator aspect was also compelling, I just would have loved for the characters to be a bit more fleshed-out. I'm not totally sold on reading the sequel; I might go back to it later. I think this book is good as a beach read or something quick and digestible, but it's not one of the better thrillers I've read. 

(Also, this is a minor complaint, but the descriptions of Lucy's dog's bowel movements were *entirely* too detailed.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood and Excrement

erinicole's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, and Kidnapping