Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

5 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

2.5

I did not like this. Deeply unsatisfying read. I don’t usually rate books based on plot/ending alone, but man was that so little payoff for a seemingly interesting premise.

I liked that in the end Larry was too other, too non-human to continue functioning as Dorothy’s escape or to truly care about human life. I love when authors depict the realistic divide between humanoids; other beings have no reason to talk, think, or act like we do given their separate evolutionary path. I also liked the prose; the sentences were so crisp and concise. It felt like snack reading.

That being said, -2 stars for:
- the sheer amount of fucking salad and veggie descriptions 
- the sometimes hard to keep track of quippy dialogue between Dorothy and Estelle
- the car crash… what an unnecessarily messy conclusion to a whimper of a set of affairs
- Could Sandra have been his kid??????? GROSS
- Estelle also fucking Dorothy’s husband. her knowing who the man was and not telling Dorothy was enough of a betrayal to warrant the silly ending. The rest felt contrived 
- Dorothy finally being free of her cheating, unsupportive husband and perfidious bff, only to be miserable at home looking for a froggy fling that isn’t coming back. she has a lot to work on internally, but the book ended with her not even trying. just going through the same motions.

idk this just wasn’t my cup of tea. i got to the last page and audibly scoffed. what was the point in all that retrospection on humanity and friendship and love just to end the book sad & yearning for a frog in between haunting your uncaught sex offender husbands grave. ugh

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another_dahlia's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-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? Yes

3.5


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mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

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

3.0


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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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

3.75


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blewballoon's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This book certainly affected me. I was unsettled, disturbed, and upset in the end and it stuck with me for a while. Most of the characters apart from Dorothy are almost comically awful, but not comically enough for it not to be distressing. Even during the parts of the book where pleasant things are occurring, there is a constant undercurrent of tension and dread. 

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