Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Family Business by Jonathan Sims

8 reviews

mistrum_crowe's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Stalking, Body horror, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Deportation, and Addiction

nebulous_cat's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Body horror, Death, Abandonment, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Police brutality, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Addiction, Stalking, Cancer, Excrement, and Mental illness

bdowning81's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This rating is a challenge because I listened to the audiobook and I'd love to be able to give three separate ratings - the story was great, I enjoyed it a lot. I picked this up as a fan of The Magnus Archives and Thirteen Storeys, as I love Jonathan Sims' authorial voice and actual voice. 

I'm not 100% sure where I think this story lands within the precedent set by the others, though, because of the big negative: the narrator. She started out strong, but by halfway through the book seemed like she was phoning it in with no attention given to the meanings of the things she was reading. Every sentence, had the same, intonation structure with, entirely too many extra, auditory commas, and a question-lift, at the end? I had to pause frequently to mentally rewind what I'd just heard, visualize it as printed text, and reimagine it with the appropriate tone and emphases.

That said, the use of the "cameo" narrator is absolutely brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Addiction, Death, Murder, Grief, and Blood

iamastraythought's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Mr. Sims you have done it again. Diverse in that way that isn't really mentioned, horrifying in both a soul crushing and mundane way. 

this book is like the lonely on steroids. Of course it's a separate media, but all the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Stalking, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying

misszoe's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Murder, Child death, Death, Police brutality, Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, and Addiction

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Bullying

ionop's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Bullying, and Drug abuse

emflipspages's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I liked this book, I'm a sucker for Jonny Sims and his use of patterns and categories in horror. But this book got a little bit repetitive sometimes, as if only the relevant happenings in the plot line were piled on top of each other, and the resolution wasn't as satisfying as it could have been (the solution came somewhat suddenly and there were still a lot of unanswered questions at the end). Still, the writing style, the characters and the story itself are completely brilliant, and you bet I'll be looking out for the rest of Jonny's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture, Cancer, and War

jan_coco_day's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Sims is a master at slow-paced horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Violence, Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, and Body horror

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Bullying