Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Marokánka

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Marokánka by Christine Mangan

2 reviews

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Considering I've never read any psychological thrillers like the ones mentioned in other reviews before, I somehow found this book to be kind of predictable and okay at best. I did find myself turning the page just to see what happened next, and although sometimes I was satisfied by what I read nothing felt particularly extraordinary to me.

What I liked:

For all of its flaws, the writing is easy to read and the author has a good sense of the characters' individual voices.
The author is good at giving Tangier a sense of place even if you haven't been there. Though it might be a little cliché, I also enjoyed the talk about the country's tombs and how it went through many different names depending on who had recently conquered it.

What I didn't like:

There were long stretches where it didn't feel like anything was happening in the present day of the novel. I understand Alice is a 50's housewife and lacks the agency a lot of modern day women do for a reason, but the flashbacks to Bennington were more interesting than the novel's present day I couldn't help but wonder if the author intended it to be set at Bennington originally, only to change the setting to make it seem more unique.
The characters stick to the roles and clichés they were written for and don't have much going for them outside of it. This is especially annoying with
Lucy, as she follows the psycho lesbian trope to a tee because she grew up poor and had an absent mother. Groundbreaking. The idea that Alice was supposed to be an equally unreliable narrator as well also fell short for me.
Although I said the author is good at making Tangier come to life, there is one thing that felt like wasted potential to me. There was talk of violent revolutions happening so that Morocco could gain its independence which felt like it was included more to say "do not enjoy this popular holiday destination!" rather than exploring how the city is a product of colonisation that white people enjoy at the expense of the people they've colonialised.
Lucy's scheming was almost comical at times, especially with how everything seemed to go off without a hitch. The novel relies a lot on dramatic irony over foreshadowing, so we know how Lucy's schemes are going to affect Alice, but even when Alice starts to realise the extent of Lucy's scheming at best she stamps her feet and tells Lucy to go away. Again, understandable considering the time period, but it doesn't make it all that compelling to read.

Content Warnings

angel_lyd's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Tangerine is possibly the most mind boggling book i’ve read in a long time. It is beautifully written, you can feel the heat of Tangier throughout. The only reason this isn’t 5 stars for me is because the ending felt rushed, the blurb seems to make a big deal off the husband’s disappearance but I felt it happened quickly and some information was left out. Still a fantastic read though, Lucy Mason is terrifying.

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