Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

20 reviews

lifeisaeisha's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

This book if hard to rate because it does some things very well, while failing in other areas.

The good: 

• it's very hard to talk about
  rape and sexual assault, especially as a survivor. So I definitely give the  author her props for approaching both that and school shootings,
  and depicting them both realistically. 
• The story was incredibly engaging. Although the characters were largely unlikable and at times insufferable, the plot had me locked in and I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of Ani's story and understand why she turned out the way that she did. 
• I think it was important to show characters like Ani's mother and
  the planned parenthood nurse
  . Women who perpetuate patriarchy by dismissing, downplaying, and outright ignoring obvious abuse.

The bad: 

• Right out the gate we are introduced to Ani's disordered eating, but at no point is it acknowledged as such, or as a thing for her to work on. Both times her best friend bright it up, she dismissed her and moved on. 
• The plot with
  the teacher
  was suuuuper unnecessary, and it was never acknowledged how creepy and inappropriate it was.
• (A personal gripe, not so much a fault of the author.) I would have liked to see more of how
  the documentary turned out and the fallout for Dean
  . I understand that Ani's closure came from the face to face acknowledgement of his crimes against her, but it would have been nice to see him finally lose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Panic attacks/disorders

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I have to admit this book surprised me more than once. I thought it was going in a certain direction that I was sure was going to be banal. Then it pivoted and pivoted again and pivoted again. The only thing banal was the ending, but I didn’t mind that because it felt like it needed to be. After all the trauma and turmoil in her life, Ani deserved banal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

lovetoread18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Outing, and Sexual harassment

megan_wy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-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? Yes

1.0

Despite Ani’s traumatic past, I found her severely unlikable . The body shaming, sexism, and generally all other negative qualities she exudes, I had a hard time getting through the book. I found it hard to follow at times and overall just didn’t enjoy it. There was a lot of characters and plot lines to follow and it felt very dragged out and all over the place. Would not recommend. :/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Gaslighting

Thriller, violence, narrative

zviews11's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

bridgetsjournal's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I found it hard to finish. Aaneee is so hard to love as a person, because she treats everyone like sh*t, mostly women. Because of what happened to her it’s not really understandable, but everyone reacts differently to trauma - and she clearly didn’t work on it with therapy. Also, there should be a few trigger warnings at the beginning of the book for eating disorders, SA and  gun violence. I found this really hard to read the ed parts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Classism

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

I have mixed feelings on this one - 3 stars seems too low, 4 stars seems to high, 3.5 still doesn’t seem right 😂
The writing here, I feel, is really solid. The narrative of bad things sometimes also happen to bad people is an interesting take - the protagonist here is an insufferable sociopath, she has very little redeemable qualities and everything she does/says makes you not want to root for her. But, at the end of the day, her trauma is STAGGERING. At what point does it become understandable that you’re a terrible person when so many horrible, unfathomable things have happened to you? For me, this is more of a character study than a thriller. Goes without saying that there are many, many trigger warnings here. Many reviews have said this is like Walmart Gone Girl and I think that’s probably selling it a bit short and doing a disservice to the book, since Gone Girl is a dark and twisted thriller through and through, which this is not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katiea714's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism