Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

93 reviews

maelstrom712's review

Go to review page

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-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

3.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

Really interesting book. Enjoyed the science fiction concepts and themes it explored. Enjoyed that it brought up themes of childhood trauma to explain how the main character became so
rigid, mean, intense etc


However I found the writing slogged a bit when talking about the main characters feelings and I found her main insufferable at points
I knew Evelyn wasn't supposed to be lovable, but oh my god, I could not stand her! At the beginning I was even hoping that Martine was going to kill her and take her place or something lol. Wished we saw Martine's perspective. Enjoyed the ending. Some really good scenes like them dealing with the bodies. Also wished the lab assistant came back.


The audiobook narration wasn't my personal favourite, the narrator sounded like they were about to start sobbing multiple times throughout and it gave it a bit of an odd vibe.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

eachz's review

Go to review page

dark 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

3.25

I really struggled on and off with finishing this book but ultimately I landed on the side of liking it. A lot of the things that bothered me or seemed confusing early on made a bit more sense when all the pieces started to click together in the end. It was hard at times to get through the first ~half but I think the author ultimately did a good job of exploring the themes they were aiming to explore.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

christene_littlelibrary's review

Go to review page

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rockyc5's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Other than that I thought I had better ideas of what to do to solve the problems the characters faced than what they came up with, THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. I think it's fair to say it's totally unique even as books about
clones
multiply. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

biobooksbirdsnerd's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A very entertaining read that once you start is hard to put down. Part dark romance and part sci fi. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

elya_moss93's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jeannette_m's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mkgfencer's review

Go to review page

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

4.0

Be ready for some long digressions about the protagonist’s deep and wide ranging trauma. 

I’ve never hated any book character as much as I hated the antagonist.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

puffinthedog's review

Go to review page

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

4.5

Speaking as someone who is still unlearning the things I was taught throughout childhood and multiple abusive relationships- The Echo Wife was a heartbreaking novel of how childhood abuse and interpersonal violence strip people of their will and leaves them unsure who is making the choices for them, even in their own heads. If you don’t have a history of psychological abuse, perhaps it can be read as a book questioning the ethics of cloning, and with that framework I can’t tell you how good a story this is if that’s what you’re looking for. I have no idea how plausible the science is that backs the plot. But as someone who identified with Martine this story made me see things in myself that I knew were there and made me look directly at them in broad daylight in a way that, maybe for the first time, allowed me to really feel sad for myself and angry at my own Nathans (and Evelyns). 

I don’t know if this book is a masterpiece in general or just a masterpiece for me, in this moment I’m in. I’m too deep in my own experience that resonates too loudly for me to comment on writing or storyline. I think both of those things were enjoyable and interesting, but the overall experience of this book is the emotion and the characters. I can see this falling flat for someone who just wants a fun sci-fi romp and not a look at how parenting, society, and intimate partner violence shapes people and makes us question how much free will we have and if it’s possible to break the programming in a world that wants us pleasant, submissive, and unquestioning. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings