Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

36 reviews

ellxnmcgrxth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Read in one night, it's very moreish

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Suicide

ratjoy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Grief, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Death, Misogyny, Classism, Racism, Pregnancy, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Dysphoria

Minor: Alcoholism and Deadnaming

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Outing, Slavery, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racism, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Infertility

lynxpardinus's review

challenging emotional reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Transphobia, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Ableism, Pedophilia, Slavery, Suicide, War, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

Minor: Antisemitism, Cancer, Confinement, Miscarriage, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Incest warning is just in case, for an affair between in-laws.

gonzogamer's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

paigereitz's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Just - wow. This book was phenomenal. A series of character sketches of (mainly British Black femme) characters across a diverse range of ages and ideologies that weave in and out of each other's lives. Exploration of racism, colorism, immigrant issues, LGBTQIA issues, feminism in its many forms, love, relationships, inequitable educations - so much in here to unpack. I suspect I'll find myself coming back to it in the future. Bernadine Evaristo displayed an amazing ability to really get into the skin of her characters, many of whom have exceedingly disparate experiences, and do so flawlessly. This was an amazing book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Xenophobia, Classism, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Deadnaming

zara89's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Terminal illness, Classism, Death, Body shaming, Child death, Grief, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer and Drug use

camoo3032's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a collection of short stories about black women in England. The author covers a lot of topics including feminism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and domestic abuse. The book's format is a clever way of exploring these topics and I really enjoyed how it explored the change in society's acceptance of each of these issues over time. I also enjoyed how the grammatic style of the book allowed for more poetic moments.

There are a lot of characters so the book can feel like a bit of whirlwind, particularly in the first chapter, and some of the topics covered could've been discussed in more depth. Regardless, I still found this book very eye opening

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Transphobia, Vomit, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Slavery, Suicide, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

jamieruwen's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This was just wonderful. So many different perspectives, interconnected yet their own, generational, and such real characters and real stories. This is the epitome of "something doesn't have to be relatable to be good" (for me, as a 20-something white NB that is). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia

Minor: Alcoholism

Carole 2 contains an absolutely devastating description of the gang rape of a 13 yr old girl.

hannahbailey's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

I loved this! What a cracking book, I can't believe I didn't read this sooner.

Generally I prefer not to read character-vignette novels written in third-person. But this novel just goes to show that when done well, I can really enjoy them! I loved the distinct voice of each character and how they would be name-dropped in one chapter only to be the main character of the next one. It built such an interesting and creative narrative without leaving me feeling I didn't know enough about them–which is usually the case for me with character-vignettes.

Surprised to see some reviews stating the character dialogue and mix of poetry/prose was hard to believe and unrealistic. I completely disagree! The inner dialogue of the female characters was relatable and familiar. I enjoyed the exploration of womanhood and motherhood and how this intersects with race in Britain. It was an interesting and sobering read.

It was almost 5 stars, but there was a part where the character overcomes drug addiction by sheer willpower–they literally stay at home for a week without any form of support and somehow recovers? This didn't feel realistic to me especially given the vulnerability and young age of the character. That said, this was one of the chapters that really stood out to me in its exploration of body/gender dysphoria and trans joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Abortion, Addiction, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia