Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

61 reviews

youmns's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

Significantly better than I thought it would be at first. Horrifying as a train wreck, equally difficult to look away.

I didn't think I'd enjoy this listen. Boy, was I wrong. The fully-voiced interjections add a lot to the story, adding a layer to the experience. This sort of thing isn't in my wheelhouse - trauma porn, beach read, that sort of thing - but, wow, was it well-written.

Josie starts out totally sympathetic, a pitiful woman who lost so much of her life trapped in an early marriage to a much older man. The more you hear about her life, the less sympathetic she is. Alix starts out the golden goddess, like so many influencers out there, putting out a certain image on her socials, but her life is shown to be just as normal as (or more dramatic than) the average person. None of the principal characters is who they appear to be. The title is pretty spot-on.

Just a note:

They're not actually birthday twins. Alix makes a comment about how they met in a pub on the eve of their birthday, meaning her own was on Sunday while it's established right away that Josie's is on Saturday.

Surprised nobody thought to check, frankly.

I don't think I'll seek out anything else by Lisa Jewell, but I wouldn't necessarily turn my nose up if a friend recommended it. What a ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Incest, Torture, and Toxic friendship

camillagrace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

flamming_bluejeans's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Stalking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dizpig's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

carlyguari's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

The full cast audio is done very very well. I don’t listen to a ton of psychological thrillers as they relate a little too closely to my profession. However, I loved the format presented in the book, a “podumentary.” I’m not sure how I feel about the title as I felt like the title gave away that like, duh someone is lying and probably it’s who you think it is. I guessed a handful of the twists but the very end does leave you asking questions and still wondering about what parts of the character’s story are “true” or not.

I recommend this audiobook to anyone that loves a true crime podcast or documentary. I even convinced my partner to listen to it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Kidnapping and Pandemic/Epidemic

lindseybkoehler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape and Death of parent

brooklynbaylis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is absolutely wild! There were some turns that you kinda expected just for it to be turned upside down! I actually had chills and anxiety when reading the final chapters. Unreliability of narraters was amazing and there is always an unsettling lingering feeling. Such a good read!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

virgcole398's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism and Pedophilia

beckybeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Wow. Hard to put down, even though not much truly happens in the first half. A really cool format, having some chapters be described as the documentary script. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought this book was fantastic. The use of interesting but unreliable characters has you hooked the entire way through. As you slowly start to figure out what is happening, putting the pieces together to solve the mystery of the main character, you realize that everyone is lying. Not just her. 

The ONLY thing I didn’t like was the fact that they tried to make a literal PEDOPHILE a victim in this book. No thanks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment