Reviews with content warning for Abortion - The Confession

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Confession by Jessie Burton

22 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

2.0

Finished reading: May 16th 2023

WARNING: guess what?! It's another unpopular opinion!

Right... I already feared this was going to happen to be honest. Slower stories haven't really worked for me lately, and I had my doubts if I was going to be in the mood for The Confession. My TBR jar decided it was time for me to finally read it back in February, and I've been posponing it ever since... This is in fact the third time I tried starting it, which is never a good sign I guess. That said, the slower pace wasn't my main issue with this book. Between the cringeworthy writing (~~"her cunt a warm coal~~~~"; WTF?!)~~, the tone being way too pretentious, the weak character development, the unlikeable characters and my general lack of interest in how the story would develop, I had a very hard time convincing myself to keep reading. In fact, I started skimreading quite early on, and I truly wish I had just DNFed it instead. I hated that the women seemed to be defined by their ability to have children, and the feminism incorporated into the plot didn't feel genuine. The male characters hardly had any development at all, and the female characters were simply maddening. Guess who truly didn't agree with her TBR jar this time around? Most people do seem to enjoy this one though, so it might just be that Jessie Burton's writing simply isn't for me anymore.

Content Warnings

andreapap15's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

Enveloped in Burton's beautiful prose, a deep dive into parental abandonment, and what it does to a child growing up without a mother. A feminist novel about motherhood, and what defines a woman. Filled with complicated relationships and believable characters (minus the men). Oh and it's sapphic!

Content Warnings

bigbizliz1991's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

chloleighton's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

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maria_fr's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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rebeckareads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

It was easy to suspend my disbelief for this book and I overall enjoyed the writing, the themes, the generational parallells and the flaws of the characters. It also had some questions in the end in case you're reading it for a book club, which was cool.

Content Warnings