Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Lying Game by Ruth Ware

8 reviews

erinnnn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

A pulpy, seaside I Know What You Did Last Summer that may be a bit too long to be a satisfying beach read. While I would normally dislike spending so much time on details and relationships unrelated to the plot, I didn’t mind it much here because I thoroughly enjoyed Isa and colorful friend group. They are by far my favorite characters in any of Ware's books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Suicide, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, and Dysphoria

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is very middle-of-the-road for me. It took a while to build up, and the ending felt very abrupt. In between was mostly Isa being anxious and insufferable, even if she was also justified. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder and Self harm

greatexpectations77's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was an interesting story, but I felt like the ending was a little unsatisfying. The very, very ending I appreciated, but it's just a bummer to get sucked into a story expecting a good payoff, and then not getting it. Also! I am really wondering if there was a Muslim sensitivity reader for the part of Fatima. Parts just didn't seem nuanced. Also, Fatima and her family were named the first names that come up when you search "common Muslim names" on Google, which I did to verify. There may be a reading of this that says that since Kate is the main POV that we're getting, the book is written as a white person's view of Islamic practices, since it's Kate's view. But that also feels like a blah reason. Like this whole "you cover your hair now and that makes you a whole different person" thing is like... but what if we didn't?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Medical content

The MC talks quite a lot about her young baby, and that might be not excellent for anyone going through a time where they don't want to read lots of worshipful language about babies.

katipheria's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

If you're squeamish about child rearing-related topics, there is very frequent, detailed mention of breastfeeding, as the main character is a new mother who has her infant daughter with her throughout the entirety of the book.

bella_donna's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Suicide, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Self harm, and Sexual content

katymat18's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

vaguely_pink's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Misogyny, and Islamophobia

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I rarely read mysteries, but I am so glad I picked up this one! The emotions Isa and her three friends go through are palpable. And I greatly appreciate the fact that the women had goals, ambitions, fears, hopes, etc. that went beyond being wives and mothers, even though most of them are wives and mothers. They felt fully fleshed out, complex, and interesting. It's a great boarding school, dark academia story told from the perspective of an adult looking back on her harrowing teenage years. 

I took off one star because the ending is a bit confusing and a little ambiguous considering the amount of detail that went in the rest of the novel.

Be mindful of the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault