Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Nightcrawling: A Novel by Leila Mottley

45 reviews

thissagreads's review against another edition

ALL OF THE TRIGGERS!! I couldn’t finish this book because the pace was slow. The amount of triggering trauma happening to this *child* was overwhelmingly heavy, without reprieve. After the second hour of listening I was hopeful that the main character Kiara- would catch a break. But she didn’t, and the amount of TW was wild. Yes I understood that the author was shining light on very bleak situations that anyone can find themselves in, if given scraps and being abandoned. 

By the 6th hour, there continued to be a lot of “well I just have to do what I have to do” mentality, on top of having to trick/prostitute  while trying to take care of the neighbor’s kid since his mom is just looking for her next fix …. I don’t really understand the appeal, even if the author is a young, award winning poet and started writing this book at 16 years old. Very disappointing. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gun violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Addiction, Abandonment, Child abuse, Rape, Death, and Sexual assault

TRIGGER WARNING!! Kiara’s brother is a shitty rapper who’s not working to pay the bills in the tiny apartment they both share. He won’t step up so Kiara’s been working but still struggling. She’s already asked her brother to help out but he’s whining about wanting to rap and asks for a month to “make it”. She agrees but one night she goes to see her brother’s ex girlfriend (at the bar she works at) and accidentally gets drunk. Then she sees a GROWN MAN who’s into her, and they walk off to -what Kiara thought- was going to be a consensual hook up, but he ends raping her. Then after throwing money at her, Kiara gets the idea to start prostituting herself while her brother gets the month to “release his album”. But unfortunately she gets pulled into the underworld quickly, accepts a gig with cops and then of course everyone takes advantage of her. So Kiara’s life just gets worse. ESPECIALLY after her brother tells her he won’t support her! And on top of that her mom is AWFUL and couldn’t give a damn about her 2 kids struggling to keep the lights on, this monster killed their little sister in the bathtub and refuses to take accountability so she’s been in prison and a Safeway house. This book was just fucking awful and riddled with trauma that I felt was overdone and unnecessary.

mgmsharpe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

This was really good.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Child death, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Vomit, Pedophilia, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual content, Rape, Death of parent, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Self harm, Child abuse, Police brutality, and Grief

bananahan's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Child death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Vomit, Classism, Gun violence, Addiction, Racism, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Transphobia

murve's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Classism, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Rape, Racism, and Sexual assault

anenome's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad 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

4.5

This story was heartbreaking. Incredibly sad, it incites real anger, such an important story to tell.

It took me a while to warm to the narrator, I found her annoying for the first two chapters. Then I loved her, I've never missed a character so much when a book has ended, an original voice.

The ending was too abrupt and open for me. I didn't like Ale, she was a weak friend and always got a free pass for abandoning Kiara.

Between the dark parts of the book there's a lot of humour, it feels balanced.

If there was more to Kiara's story I would read it in a heartbeat.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Misogyny, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Police brutality, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Stalking, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Medical content

kelisabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective tense slow-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death, Self harm, Sexual violence, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

annamgoodman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Cancer, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cursing, Blood, and Self harm

zoinkie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Alcohol, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

anna_in_the_spring's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Rating this book is really difficult. I can tell that it is a good book. It just really wasn't for me.
The writing is lyrical, which I only like sometimes. While I thought it was okay in this book, maybe that was because I had a much bigger problem with the language that is being used. In dialogue and sometimes also in internal speech African American dialect is being used. And I hated that. Let me explain. I am a non-native English speaker with dyslexia. Slangs and dialects in written English ( and any other written language I understand) irritate me greatly. I am at a level of reading comprehension with regular English where I can just read the text. Written dialects trigger my dyslexia and slow me down a great deal and make understanding difficult. They are like another foreign language. And I don't have the energy to deal with that. I just want to read a book, not struggle with a language that to me, who had such a hard time learning the original language, seems just wrong and like someone is playing a malicious prank on me. 
I understand that this is not the intention and I don't have a problem with the existence of dialects. Just with having to read them. I try avoiding these kind of books.
I still struggled through the book , skimming over some parts, because it is a good book. And I understand why the language is as it is. It just wasn't for me. That's fine. 
I didn't enjoy the plot, but I don't think you're supposed to. I'm not a big fan of tragedies, so again, not really for me. The subject matter is also thankfully very far removed from me. Still, if the dialect hadn't been there, I might have been able to enjoy the book, the way one enjoys a tragedy. Like this, I was never really able to get into it.  But without the dialect it would have been a different book. So, again, this was just not for me. And that's fine.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

samantha1960's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This story is heartbreaking and absolutely unnerving but so beautifully written it’s hard to put it down once you pick it up. Kiara is a character I’ll think back on for years to come. An unbelievable debut novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Death, and Police brutality