Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Let Me in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

40 reviews

frejabitsch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Murder, and Pedophilia

natreviews's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I had heard a lot about this book. Originally, I'd heard about the Italian film, then the American re-make, and found it all started with this book. It's the perfect October read. It's scary on multiple levels (from violence, to pedophilia, to gore) and I think it handles these topics well and with the respect they deserve. It isn't a easy read, but it is very rewarding if you can get through it. I also appreciate how it's set in the 1980's, that way it isn't bogged down with modern devices and having to work around those. Yes, there are some weird translation issues (words not making grammatical sense, or simple words missing), but the writing overall makes up for that. 
In the back of my copy there's a page advertising John's next book. I don't know if I'll read it, but Let The Right One In is a book I will keep on my shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

bakerreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Review in progress

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racism and Bullying

Minor: Alcoholism

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Many books with sympathetic vampire characters leave you desensitized to the horror of either being killed by a vampire or being a vampire. This book does neither. Absolutely amazing. This book has lots of little plot points that come together in a kind of intricate web by the end, it's really impressive. For as many events that happen, I really like that not one character probably understand how this web connects, the only person who understands everything that happened and why, is you the reader.


For diversity I put it's complicated bc a character can be read has being nonbinary or gender fluid but it's not concretely addressed in the book (this is my understanding of the character). It also makes the romantic relationship in the book gay. But the book is a little vague on this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, and Excrement

Minor: Domestic abuse

nikkinick's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

alsoapples's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

will_meringue's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

sophiet's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty

arnrockwell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Let the Right One In (also known as Let Me In) is a Swedish vampire horror novel that is written in third-person omniscient point of view, and focuses on three characters:

•  Oskar is a 12-year-old boy living in Blackberg, a suburb in Sweden's capital Stockholm. He lives with his mother, as his parents are divorced. He is mercilessly bullied on a regular basis to, from and during school, but he keeps this a secret from his mother so he doesn't give her cause for concern.
•  Eli is a vampire with the appearance of a 12-year-old girl. She moves to Blackberg with her caretaker and ends up befriending Oskar.
•  Hakan is Eli's caretaker, a role he volunteered for and has been doing for years. He often goes out to find victims and drain them of their blood so she doesn't have to out and put her life in danger. He often does this in exchange for some "affection." He is also a pedophile, so his chosen victims are often children.

The book is a bit slow, but this not a bad thing. The author spends time in the shoes of many characters, major and minor, and uses their senses to describe the surroundings. He manages to paint a clear picture of the setting and characters you follow, and by the end of the book you feel almost like you have been there and knew the characters as real people.

Oskar gets bullied so much, you quickly become legitimately concerned for his safety. At one point he starts taking boxing lessons so he can defend himself, which appears to work at first. But in fact, it makes matters worse, as the bullies in turn step up their game. There are multiple times where the bullies come just shy of outright killing him.

The book does a great job of humanizing Eli. Although she's forced to drink blood for her own survival, the book makes it clear she does it more out of necessity than desire. She is initially aloof in her interactions with Oskar, but soon befriends him. Eli herself has a traumatic past and part of her journey through the book is learning she doesn't have to be alone.

I found Lindqvist's approach to vampires to be quite interesting. He leans toward a more scientific approach, which makes vampirism appear more real. By the end of the book, there are three total vampires seen, with another being mentioned by Eli. One of them is undead, which is also justified via the lore of the book. Many of the "traditional" vampire weaknesses are on display in this book, most which are valid and make sense. But there is a weakness or two that seem to be present more for dramatic value than making sense.

I also want to make note of the translation work. Remember, this book was originally published in Swedish, not English. If I didn't already know this fact, there was no way I could've guessed it. The translator did an amazing job keeping the author's prose and voice, while also doing a fabulous job in the translation it general. It reads like an English-language novel. And as someone who grew up reading Japanese manga, some of which were translated poorly, I cannot heap enough praise on the translation.

With this book, Lindqvist has proven to me that he is an incredible writer. Let the Right One In has earned its place as not only one of the best vampire novels ever, but one of my all-time favourite books period. Full stop. I look forward to reading his other material in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Pedophilia

Moderate: Blood and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism