Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

18 reviews

kittkat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Gutes, spannendes Buch. Es hat mich jetzt nicht so weggehauen wie der erste Teil, aber dafür fand ich die 1980er-Sommer-auf-einer-privaten-Insel-Vibes suuuper cool und spaßig 🏖️🍦⛵️🥐🧊🍓
Ich habe mich jetzt nicht mehr wirklich an den exakten Plot im ersten Buch erinnert, aber eigentlich konnte man diese Story auch so einwandfrei verstehen. 

Dadurch dass es ein Jugendbuch ist, war die Sprache relativ simpel und man kommt echt schnell durch das Buch. Ich glaube aber auch, dass mir genau deswegen, irgendwas gefehlt hat… aber I can‘t quite put my finger on it 🤔. Das Ende fand ich ziemlich hervorsehbar, weil man diese dunkle Wendung der Geschichte schon aus dem ersten Buch kennt, aber ich fand, dass das Leseerlebnis dadurch nicht gemindert wird :).

Also insgesamt, ein gutes Buch und perfekt für so stressige Tage vor den Klausuren, wenn man nichts Kompliziertes/ Langes lesen kann.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Child death, Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, and Rape

tourmaline1703's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

We Were Liars is one of my favourite books of all time, so I was very excited to revisit this world in its prequel. Safe to say, I wasn't disappointed. I will say that the shock factor is less than We Were Liars so don't expect such a big twist but there are still twists and turns along the way. They're not necessarily predictable just shock you in a different way.

I love the summery setting of this novel, it's really made the nice weather today feel like the start of summer. Usually summery novels have this sense of perfection and happiness, but this novel uses the summery setting to create a false sense of security which I love!

It's unconventional but I love the way the novel is written and structured. The use of fairytales to reflect the protagonist's story is really interesting and of course, the whole premise is based on the fact she is an unreliable narrator, which is what adds to the twists. At times, some things felt like they were typos which did throw me off a bit but they could be part of the dialect.

I felt the plot was well paced and I liked the twists and turns. The mystery and romance blend creates a great set up for the storyline. The characters were interesting and I wanted to know their motives, their relationships and what happened next. None of these characters are particularly good people but they're interesting and flawed, making it a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death, Murder, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Child death, and Homophobia

kotletka_polina's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

It was a good read. Nothing spectacular, nothing outstanding but a decent book when you don’t want to be overwhelmed. The story flows quickly, it’s catchy and entertaining but without anxiety or feeling like you can’t put the book down.
The only issue is the writing style. It’s exactly the same as in “we were liars”  but it has a different narrator. I believe that when you write from the first person perspective the writing style is no longer yours as the author but theirs as the character therefore having the same styles/techniques is just lazy, boring and cheap thing to do that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Addiction, Drug use, Child death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Blood

pianoplayer279's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed reading this book and I personally thought it was much better than We Were Liars. Age 14+

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual assault, and Rape

sami_kei's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

sophie_hans's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Sexual harassment

_eleanorgreen8_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book - much more than We Were Liars. It was a good holiday read and incredibly absorbing, but also pretty dark and troubling. E Lockhart's writing so skilfully conjures emotions and a sense of place, and the use of description and listing is so satisfying. I felt totally involved in the narrator's world, as her thoughts and emotions were constantly being expressed and explained. The one thing I liked less about the book was the plot twist at the end - I felt it didn't make sense and wasn't really necessary, though i guess it did add another layer to the story. Overall, this book was gripping and thought provoking and I definitely would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Grief

stitchbooks22's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This was garbage, but still not the worst thing I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Body horror, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Antisemitism, Child death, Colonisation, Blood, Classism, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

guivx5's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 When I reviewed
We Were Liars,
I said:
"I still have the sequel to read, and I hope it doesn't suck."
Well,
I'm glad to say it didn't!

Lockhart had a terribly doomed job here: to write a worthy new story based on the universe of a success she wrote almost ten years ago, a book that was so unique in it's style it would be hard to avenge. Thankfully, the task was accomplished, and now we have more lies to be shocked of.

I see Family of Liars as a great expansion of the first book's universe. The Sinclair family has a twisted charm to their tale that guaranteed my interest here, no matter what. You simply want to know more about them, it's undeniable. But then, what could she write? After the shocking story of Cadence and her friends, the broken family full of intrigue and ambition? We Were Liars was an ambitious story itself. I had to find out what's up with their past. Turns out, it wasn't pretty.

Now, let's talk about reading experience here. This book has less strength than it's older brother, simply because it doesn't benefit of the surprise factor. That was taken away by the first story, so it is an inevitable fragility. But I do think Lockhart handled well with this weakness, and soothed it as much as she could, which made the story still full of surprises. The characters, both old and new, were as intriguing as ever, and the plots involving the long-known family of liars were really good. I feel like the second third of the story could do with a bit more of clues and intrigue, but that's just me. Overall, the story is as well built as the first one in terms of consistency. But I do have a big caveat:

Rosemary

 

This could be just me playing with my frustrated expectations, but I do feel like Rosemary deserved a better plot. I mean, it's The Sinclair Family we are talking about, I don't believe she just died on an accident. Her presence could be more meaningful, specially revolving around her motives to visit Carrie. Even if she just died like that, even if this is really her only motive, to look out for her sister, I feel like this wasn't developed enough. It should be brought up more during the chapters. But sorry Lockhart, the only way to redeem yourself here is to write a third book, a prequel where we learn the origins of Harris and Tipper and how they were the real guilty ones behind Rosemary's death. You just have to do it, or I won't raise my rating on this book on my next reread.

Again, I think Lockhart gives us mystery and suspense done right. And this is a great expansion upon the first novel, maybe with a few hiccups towards the middle and in the need of a little more development here and there. It is, ultimately, worth reading if you liked the first book.

Now, how long do you guys think she'll take before deciding to write another prequel? I don't want to reread this too much before she releases it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexism