Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

44 reviews

kyra_joy's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

It was pretty good, but I wouldn’t look into to much before reading as a lot of reviews make the ending super obvious. Though it  doesn’t typically bother me, it is a super obvious twist and I found the end to come on quite quickly. It was written well though and I think would make a pretty good full length novel or even a decent movie thing just need to be more fleshed out. Needed a few more pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Blood, Dementia, and Gaslighting

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Great, short read. The author was really able to build a sense of dread around every corner. A creepy portrayal of a toxic familial relationship. Well done!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder and Car accident

katyannreads's review against another edition

dark

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

What the hell did I just read?!

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A short gruesome novella about toxic parents, abuse, and mother-daughter resentment. This one absolutely terrified me, and though you could see where it was going I still found it disturbing. This book is so short but quick paced and addictive. Because it is rather short I don’t want to give too much away.  This was a perfect read for me until the end. The pacing was perfect the whole book until the ending which was abrupt, predictable, and a little too bleak for me. Other than that I loved this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

winsomefish's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

kklosowski09's review

dark tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

dans_bookscape's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

“Miller and her estranged mother, Sylvie, have always had a tense relationship. But after Miller’s father dies, she agrees to a girls’ vacation away from the city to reconnect with the only family she has left.

Unfortunately, Sylvie’s trapped in the past. She’s recreated Miller’s childhood home down to the smallest details – she’s even found adult versions of Miller’s childhood outfits – and is desperate to revive the ‘happy family’ they once had, at any cost.”

I don’t think I recall enjoying a book and being infuriated with it as much as I have with this brilliant novella. Not infuriated with it in a bad way, it actually helped with the enjoyment!

As the novella is so short and the time period of the story is over a couple of days the pace of it is at breakneck speed, which plays into the feeling of Miller being trapped in this bizarre recreation of her childhood, in the middle of nowhere.

Sylvie is awful, no better way to describe her. She claims to want to get a relationship with her daughter back but spends the whole time gaslighting her...I could feel every nasty comment, shifting of blame and emotional blackmail from my own past which heightened the fury I felt with every interaction.

The feeling of just wanting to shout into the pages for Miller to run and get away, was felt almost immediately, there was just the sense that this wasn’t going to end well.

Excellent book from @caitlinmarceau ... if you haven’t read it yet you really should!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

molliundera_'s review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria

jessie_roz's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

danidamico's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.0

Me gustó, es de esas lecturas fáciles que terminás en una tarde. Algunos aspectos me resultaron bastante predecibles, hay una cosa específica que vi venir desde el minuto uno. Más allá de los clichés, Marceau logra mantener un buen ritmo y generar tensión durante las 90 páginas. El personaje de Sylvie es realmente horroroso, la manipulación que ejerce sobre su hija me puso la piel de gallina, sobre todo porque ese tipo de violencia existe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Lesbophobia