Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

33 reviews

readwithharry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

OH MY GOOD GOD. This book is PHENOMENAL, but needs to come with some serious trigger warnings - if you want a spoiler free description, think of a cross between ‘American Psycho’, ‘The Secret History’, ‘These Violent Delights’, and then add some teenage nihilism, drugs, sex, and private-high-school rich-kid drama. 

Admittedly, there were a few points where I actually had to stop reading, but that comes with reading Bret Easton Ellis. 

Ellis is gifted at describing moments in time, and at capturing a ::feeling::  

This is a complete and utter mindfuck, yes, but if you’re prepared for the dark stuff, i could not recommend this more. I read this pretty much non-stop for 6 days, and my copy of the book is now heavily annotated and highlighted (and drenched with my tears - and my tea when I spilled it in shock). 

Nostalgic, lustful, and extremely powerful - literally couldn’t recommend this more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, and Animal death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, and Death

not_to_day's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Homophobia

Minor: Addiction

cindylchap'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

If you love reading pornography, namely detailed homosexual pornography (which was about 99.99% of it. The rest of the less detailed sexual acts were heterosexual with a sprinkle of pedophelia), then this book is for you. The actual story line probably amounted to about 1/8 of the entire book and that is most likely being generous. This really was not a “coming of age” story. Not only that, the dialogue was not even congruent with the age of the characters. These were teenagers but conversing like experienced adults. I also found it unbelievable that these teenagers know how to make specific cocktails, know exactly what is in one just by the taste, and serve home made margaritas at their secret teen parties while their parents are away. The only reason I kept reading was because I always try to finish a book and I wanted to know what happened in that tiny little plot that was interspersed here and there 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Alcohol, Sexual content, Drug use, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

ladybergart's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual assault

hannschwarz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

violents's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Stalking, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide attempt

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Gore, and Grief

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Kidnapping, Addiction, Torture, Drug abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Cursing, Classism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Car accident, Outing, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Suicide attempt

clichemarker's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

“Don’t you think he’s probably gay?” Thom stopped. “Don’t you think that’s his real problem?”

Good, but overly long.
He spoils elements of the book at the beginning, but it takes so long to get to them that I completely forgot what he had said.
This feels like a cautionary tale for nosey people. 
The gore is sparse, and happens every hundred pages or so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Animal death, Violence, Alcohol, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Pedophilia

fmoffiziell's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Animal death, Excrement, Infidelity, Sexual content, Body horror, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism