Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

45 reviews

brittaanson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to love this book, and the beginning really sucked me in with the mystery. The structure is ambitious and intriguing, but by the end, I was confused and unsatisfied. Partly due to the nature of the plot, there wasn’t any deep character development, and as the truth of what was going on was revealed, I disliked the story more and more. The ending has so many twists that didn’t feel completely earned, and by that point I didn’t care about any of the characters. The rules, ethics, and motivations of those driving the story remain ill-defined to me. I didn’t enjoy the violence and aggressive fat phobia in the book. However, I will concede that the cleverness of the overall concept may be enough for someone else to find more satisfaction in this read than I did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Murder, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Ableism, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Stalking and Rape

ggcd1981'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

As sete mortes de Evelyn Hardcastle foi um livro que recebi boas referências no booktube e, no geral, não decepcionou. Foi um bom mistério com uma dimensão especulativa

que, apesar de eu ter previsto uma das revelações, especificamente que Michael, irmão mais novo de Evelyn, estava por trás da morte da suposta irmã, me surpreendeu com os principais plot twist. Não previ que a verdadeira Evelyn estava viva e se passando como a camareira Madeline e na verdade ela havia arquitetado todo o plano em conluio com Michael para que a falsa Evelyn morresse a deixando livre para começar outra vida. Também não previ que o protagonista, Aiden, estava numa prisão em que a sentença dos condenados era desvendar o crime para conseguir o perdão. É claro que se for olhar muito de perto é possível achar alguns buracos no enredo, mas a história foi tão intrigante que não me importo. O livro ainda colocou alguns questionamentos importantes, por exemplo, quando um criminoso é digno e pode receber o perdão? No caso de Anna, uma assassina condenada que cometeu vários crimes horríveis, mas mudou com o tempo que passou presa no time loop. O protagonista tinha razão em perdoar os crimes que Anna cometeu até contra ele mesmo e lutar para que ela obtivesse a liberdade? É uma boa reflexão.

O principal ponto negativo do livro para mim foi a fatphobia do autor que ficou clara e evidente sempre que ele se referia ao noivo de Evelyn, Lord Ravencourt. As descrições dadas do personagem me deixaram desconfortáveis como leitora. O livro é atmosférico, repleto de personagens desagradáveis e intrigas entre eles (apesar de haver alguns personagens “agradáveis”), com mais de um mistério no centro. Houve o mistério da morte de Evelyn, mas também como isso estava relacionado a acontecimentos do passado como a morte de Thomas, irmão de Evelyn e Michael que foi assassinado quando criança, e o desaparecimento de um garoto do estabulo na época da morte de Thomas. Amei o clima e cenário montado, a trama me entreteve e até surpreendeu até o fim. Contudo preciso descontar alguns pontos pela evidente fatphobia. Dou 4.75 estrelas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

ging090803's review

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Great read. I would recommend it absolutely but be prepared to read it. It's pretty confusing. With the time loop that I still dont really get it even after reading it and the supernatural (?) background, it is easy to get all mixed up. Otherwise, the story is very addictive and I just wanted to continue to read to know what would happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Violence, and Alcoholism

wickedgrumpy's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

To relate it to a movie mash up, take Being John Malkovich and pair it with Knives Out with a dash of unexplained world building sci-fi time loop situation. 

Premise was quite good, but the execution suffered.  It dragged in the middle and the wrap up at the end wasn’t very satisfying because it left so many questions unanswered.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Gore, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Self harm, Cursing, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Bullying, and Alcoholism

annareads97's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Honestly mind blowing. A book that I already can’t wait to read again just to see what I pick up on, now that I know how it ends. At no point did it go where I was convinced it was going. This is one I would pay a good amount of money to be able to read again for the first time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Classism, Murder, and Violence

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

It’s a groundhog’s day Clue mystery. Everyday the main character wakes up as a different guest at a country party trying to solve a murder. Every different guest has the MC’s soul, but their own personalities and wants. The plot twists are crazy. Such a good mystery with a lot about morality and character development. 

Murder Mystery, Slightly Fantastical, Lots of Violence/Murders

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Drug use, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Child death, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

trippalli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This starts out is a Sherlock Holmes style " who done it" but evolves into a philosophical reflection on life, evil, and forgiveness...a race to escape a bizarre philosophical prison, more like Sartre's "No Exit". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Stalking

Moderate: Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

stilestastic's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i didn’t know what was going on at any point in this book and i LOVED it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Torture, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Classism, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

lisaarnsdorf's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

This was an unusual story. It was very readable and, except for the first few chapters, moved right along. It kept me thinking and engaged.

However, it was overly complicated. There were too many details to keep track of, too many jumps in the timeline, too many characters, too many twists and reveals. The story needed some serious editing and simplifying to make it truly great. There was a character whose sole purpose in the book seemed to be for gratuitous violence that isn't even in keeping with 1920s sensibility of the story; I didn't need that at all.

When the bigger picture is finally revealed, it feels like you've been dropped into an entirely different story. (Inception, anyone?) The main motivation for being at Blackheath is almost disorienting, not a fully fleshed-out story, and frankly, not even believable. And I just didn't like the ending. If there was a spot where we could have used more, the ending was it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gore

Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug use

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I found this book somewhat overwhelming - it was so convoluted that I felt exhausted reading it. It felt like the author was trying to shoehorn his story into a certain format and it didn’t really fit. 

I liked the concept - a single entity jumping, or thrust into, a lot of different bodies. In that sense it reminded me of Claire North’s Touch. But this book left me with too many questions. I felt unsatisfied reading it, that too much was going on for it to make sense. 

That said, I liked the story. I just wish it had been tighter. 

An aside: I wonder why this is titled The 7 1/2 Deaths whereas the British edition is The Seven Deaths. Perhaps because The Seven Deaths of Evelyn H [Hardcastle] is too close to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn H [Hugo]?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, Drug use, and Eating disorder