Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - All the Things We Don't Talk About

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

All the Things We Don't Talk About by Amy Feltman

14 reviews

jdai90's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This book was…a lot. There were a lot of stories introduced but they weren’t fleshed out fully in my opinion. I think the relationship between Zoe and Morgan was interesting and I thought the book could’ve just been written about the two of them without all the other viewpoints. I didn’t feel connected to any one character in particular, and I don’t know…it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Also the school shooting seemed like it didn’t fit into the rest of the story, so I’m wondering what the point of that was.

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natttbuggg's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

SPOILER REVIEW

I love literary fiction but this was bland. It set up a lot and it fell flat. The Peter stuff started abruptly and ended too nicely. I wish there was more anguish and it was used to portray the themes in character growth but because it was glossed over in the last 20% it was not used to it's fullest. A lot could be explored with the doxxing but it felt like a bullet pointed list of this happened then this happened then this happened rather than showing us how it affected the people we've been following this whole time.
What this book did nicely was have representation without it being the crux of the characters. As a non-binary person I related a lot to the main character and understood where some of the insecurities come from. I really liked the representation of autism as well, it was very surface level but it wasn't bad imo. I wish I could rate this higher but because of the lack of substance in about half the book I rate it at a 2.5

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spaghettireads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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felix's review

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emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

Disclaimer: I got an advance ebook of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (that's what people say, right?)

TikTok review: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdk7KVjH/

There are a couple of types of book that I love to critique. One is Greek myth retellings, and another is books with autistic characters. I requested All the Things We Don't Talk About on NetGalley because it fits the latter category, despite the fact that I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy it. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised.

All the Things We Don't Talk About is about the members of one family: Morgan, a non-binary teenager; Julian, their autistic dad; Zoe, their alcoholic and estranged mother; and Brigid, Zoe's partner who has developed an online friendship with Julian over the years. The book follows the family as they navigate Morgan's first relationship and their curiosity about their mother as Zoe crashes back into their life.

Overall, I thought this book was well-written and thoughtful in how it navigated a family's turmoil. The characters felt very realistic, and their different identities felt very well-integrated into their characters. I really appreciated especially how the narrative didn't make a big deal about Morgan being non-binary, but did allow it contribute to Morgan's experience and the way they interacted with the world. I also appreciated how the story approached the difficulties that can come with being an autistic parent without implying that autistic people shouldn't or can't be parents. I was able to relate to the way Julian saw the world and the way he interacted with other people, which is actually pretty rare for me when reading.

I said earlier that I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy this book. That's mostly because I tend to not like literary fiction type stories centered around characters' messy lives-- I often find that in authors' attempts to highlight the messy parts of life, they make the drama totally overwhelming and the characters become tiresome. I didn't have that issue with this book. There were a few points that felt awkward-- for example, I didn't feel like the consequences of the opening scene were fully integrated into the rest of the book, and it was sometimes hard to tell how much time had passed between events. But on the whole, I found this book to be honest without being tiresome, and I appreciated that even at their worst, I was able to sympathize with each character.

I think this book would be a great read for anyone who likes literary fiction in theory but finds it tiresome in practice-- which is how I feel. I can see it appealing to a wide age range, too. I hope to see more stories as thoughtful as this one in the future.

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