Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Family Remains

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

134 reviews

isotope_s's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

It was pretty compelling and kept me on the seat of my chair. Though I was surprised Libby's paternity doesn't come up at all as a factor of this story. Rachel maybe was my favorite part of this book. Her inner thoughts were most interesting to me.

I'm pretty disappointed with the ending. I don't think it's realistic Henry wouldn't have done something to Phinn; just because Henry learned Phinn was just as insecure as he was and that Phinn hadn't been running from him all these years but Lucy and Libby--I don't think it's very realistic to say that he would have had an immediate change of heart.

The fact that he's looking for someone else to imitate is somewhat compelling to me, but it wasn't as nearly as good as the twist at the end of the book. In the end it just felt like the ending was inappropriate for the tone of the book like: "and everyone lived happily ever after" or something like that.

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smelliek's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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arushidas_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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kindlekate's review

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4.0

At least one thing you can count on from Jewell is their talent for writing about insanely messed-up families.

What makes The Family Remains a good read is its unpredictability. The storytelling from different POVs reveals bits and pieces of the bigger picture while also allowing readers to immerse themselves in the thought processes and emotional states of the characters.

Jewell does a great job at jumping between timelines and POVs. There were a lot of characters to keep track of in this book, but I did not find it too difficult to keep up.

I did think that

Rachel and Michael’s

storyline was unnecessary. It didn’t add much and felt as forced as a student trying to meet the word count of an essay.

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bookishglitter's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-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

3.0

Rachel's chapters were my favorite. It was really interesting to learn about her and Michael's relationship. In that way, you also know how it was between Lucy and Michael.

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paperpetal's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I read The Family Upstairs in 2020, and I recalled enjoying it. This was a less a mystery and more of a tame thriller, but I still enjoyed it. A little slow in the beginning, but picks up quickly. I haven’t picked up a mystery/thriller in a while, but this put me in the mood to start reading more of that genre again.

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allyreadabook's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

A rather disappointing follow up. The book spent a lot of time building tension, but in the end I was left wondering that it had all been for. It felt like a sequel that didn’t really have a reason to exist and took far too long to come the the conclusion that was clear from only a few pages in. Overall didn’t feel it was worth the investment in time.

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