Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

17 reviews

claired01's review

challenging dark

5.0

I have nothing to say!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Alcoholism, and Violence

anarmandameg's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Just gonna recycle my review from The Hanging City and say 'Weirdly Horny'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug use, Murder, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Trafficking, Gore, Genocide, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Infidelity, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Deportation, Drug abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Domestic abuse

kellylover86's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

This book was engaging. A look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier, a double agent working for the communists and informing on the South Vietnamese soldiers. Lots happened in this book, and it was interestingly written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Murder, Death, War, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Violence, and Colonisation

webfootjack's review

emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

eher1305's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, War, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

andrewacashner's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Torture, and Alcoholism

hopscotchreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

As a wasian/hapa myself, this hit close to home. I still think about my favorite quotes. Lots of important conversations here. But some of the writing is pointlessly verbose and there's a men-writing-women feel that is super annoying sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Murder, Death, Torture, Violence, Racism, War, and Rape

Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Animal cruelty

natazabala's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Xenophobia, Rape, War, Murder, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

veronicats's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Racism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, War, Sexual content, Slavery, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Torture

luciuh's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

this is a good ass book. read it for school and wrote an essay, and it is so good. it is very heavily loaded and takes a second to read but it’s totally worth it. it’s very blunt to the point where the satire becomes too real (but still very enjoyable), and is a very interesting exploration of the dynamics between the vietnamese and the american. it is a very unique story regarding the vietnam war, nice

 i  think it’s necessary to mention that you should def check trigger warnings especially for the last chunk of the book, especially for the rape scene.

edit:  it’s interesting because it’s more on the aftermath of the vietnam war from the perspective of someone not quite vietnamese but also certainly not american

edit again: forgot to mention, it is so sexist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, Murder, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Alcoholism