YMMV / A Cry in the Night

• Base-Breaking Character: Jenny. Some readers find her to be a complete idiot for marrying a man she's only known for a month and that she puts up with Erich's manipulative and domineering behavior for way too long. Other readers find her to be more naive and desperate than stupid; they point out that she's a vulnerable young woman raising two children basically alone and craves to have a loving, responsible husband and a stable upbringing for her daughters, so her actions are understandable. It's worth noting that in real life, lots of people get duped into abusive relationships and it's only in hindsight they realize how abnormal it was; Erich's behavior within that first month is a classic demonstration of the "love bombing" tactic frequently displayed by abusive people — showering Jenny and the girls with gifts, arranging a limo to take them to work and school, etc.
• Squick: Erich's obsession with his dead mother and how much his new wife resembles her is already is a bit off-putting, but it's made infinitely more uncomfortable by his insistence that Jenny wear his dead mother's nightgown on their wedding night and Jenny's realization he'll only initiate sex with her when she's wearing it. Jenny's own gut reaction when Erich first asks her to wear it is revulsion.
• The Woobie: Poor Jenny really goes through the ringer in the novel, and it's mostly because she had the misfortune to cross paths with Erich Krueger and be drawn in by his charms. She's a kind young woman - some would say too kind given her tendency to let others walk over her and never assume the worst of people - who is doing her best to care for two young kids on low pay, with no help from anyone: her adoptive parents died when she was a baby, she never knew her biological family, her grandmother died not long ago and her ex-husband is useless. She truly thinks Erich is the man of her dreams, only for her to slowly realize she's married an abusive, manipulative control freak who belittles and isolates her at every turn, nearly succeeds in driving her insane, murders her baby son and kidnaps her other kids when she tries to escape. Even worse, few people believe Jenny when she tries to convince them Erich is the crazy one at least at first. This culminates in Erich nearly murdering Jenny, with her being saved at the last second, and Jenny coming close to losing her daughters too.

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