Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

8 reviews

anglophone_historique's review

challenging dark reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction

paigereitz's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.0

This was a hard, hard read. The style was intentionally fragmented, like stream of conscious in the girl's head with limited punctuation or clarity of who is saying what. It was challenging material, and a challenging style. But it is unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Incest

_rowan_'s review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Gore, Incest, Cancer, Rape, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Suicide, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

hannah_bookworm's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Vomit

harleyburch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.0

How would they ever understand my life is more than cider? Complex than that. Fuller deeper richer. Irritation that. Something. Not as good as me in the back of my head.

When I read that this was an experimental novel, I didn't expect it to be quite so jarring. At first, I saw this as a negative; I felt as if the style was drawing me away from the characters rather than into their lives. It wasn't until the end of the novel that the grammar-less stream-of-consciousness style started to speak to me. It was this disjointed use of the language that put me at such unease. Strikingly, this book is bleak - very bleak. Our nameless narrator is subjected to terrible events that become relentless as she slowly but surely tugs us into her head. I had no idea how a book written like this without much plot could end but the ending - while still very bleak - was impressive and memorable. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone (definitely pay attention to the content warnings) but it was a challenged yet insightful experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content, Suicide, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Violence

casbee's review

this book is impossible to read with broken grammar, dreadful punctuation, and unclear wording and structure (and not in an edgy cute way). 
the plot is uninteresting, the characters are insufferable, the content is disgusting, and the lack of quotation marks makes it all the worse. 
personally i don't think you can throw trauma and sex and no quotation marks together and call it a masterpiece. 
i cant remember anything from the story and nothing about the book was good. 
dreadful experience; never again; no. i wouldnt recommend this book to my worst enemy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Bullying

Minor: Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Infidelity

jsfbec's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

dashes101's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

Yeah I do not know how to rate this book at all. This was one of the most challenging books I read in 2022, both in content but also in style. The experience of reading this book is draining. The sentences are short and grammatically incorrect; the book grabs, twists, and pushes you through the pages with force. The content itself is very traumatizing, and the main character's mind (which the reader occupies) is simply messy. This book took me nearly a month to read just because I couldn't sit down and breeze through pages. However, I didn't hate this book. It was definitely one of the most unique books I've picked up, but I'm glad I read it overall. This one will definitely stay in my mind for how McBride wields the English language as a weapon for building atmosphere and character. 

As an experience: this book is maybe a 3.5 star read. Its difficult and challenging with very, very few hopeful moments. The relationship between the main character and her brother (to me) felt underdeveloped in their youth and hence the end of the book didn't have the same impact as I felt it could have had. The ending however, is beautifully written, and I really did enjoy it. I also understand the different themes the book juggled (sexuality, coming of age, and religion) but I felt like there was a lot happening all the time that wasn't really developed (?). Things just happened with no real need or reason, which is very fair because that's how life is! But it led it to be a little bland at times. I also understand the reasoning for the main character's sexuality 'growth' (not the right word) but it was extremely uncomfortable to read about.
As a piece of literature: probably 4 / 4.5 stars. I love how unique and aggressive the style is -- it draws you in and persuades you to keep reading. It's almost as if the writing is another character that improves the characters in the novel. I also commend McBride for sticking through and getting this book published after 9 years of rejections. It's definitely worth a read (IF you look through the warnings first and are in a good head space) but don't expect an easy read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol