Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

45 reviews

hunkydory's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Transphobia, Classism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Racism

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

poenaestante's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

2.0

Shoutout to the critic that shaded this play Misty by Arinze Kene by asking, "are tales of Black trauma catnip for paying audiences...riddled with white guilt?". I was looking for just the right words to explain why I hated Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. There are other reasons, but this really captures the main one so beautifully. The book was also too long with too many characters.  I just simply stopped  caring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, Homophobia, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

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

anayyuh's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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

4.25

• very enjoyable read, didn’t take long and i genuinely wanted to pick it up
• interesting
• didn’t really like to kumbaya ending but overall enjoyed the experience

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, and Infidelity

moviemagus's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Slavery

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

kennie's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

This was truly a beautiful book to listen to. It was thought-provoking but also incredibly funny and relatable at times. The way that the author chose to discuss themes of relationships, struggle, race, and womanhood was truly masterful. It was so interesting to read characters that have thoughts and characteristics that I honestly disagree with while also still being able to appreciate where those perspectives came from, because of the in-depth personal background of each character.  It almost forces the reader to think about what is a moral hard stop when it comes to disagreeing with someone. "Can I truly want to be someone's friend if they still harbor homophobic tendencies?" "Do I want to interact with someone who has no care for the wellbeing of others?" It shows you that you will never truly agree with every single thing someone thinks, that you will have to deal with the fact that you disagree. The only minor critique I have is that some of the stories towards the end of the middle began to get repetitive, I still believe they were important because they eventually tied into the world of this book, but something about them became slightly monotonous. But once again, this book was truly beautiful, I would recommend it to just about anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

fenouil's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Drug use, Child death, Racism, Violence, Rape, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, Addiction, and Abandonment

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and War