Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Junkies by Melvin Burgess

3 reviews

nalakoala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Abortion, Body shaming, Racism, Sexual content, Cursing, and Gaslighting

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I would never have read this if it wasn't a book club pick and while it's not really my kind of book, I am glad read it. It's a bleak read and the characters are extremely frustrating but I did like the writing and the effective use of multiple POVs. Melvin Burgess is an author I never read as a teenager but somehow the style felt familiar to me, maybe because I read other 1990s YA.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Blood

sofiajearally's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

I gave this book 3 stars but I would have probably rated it better had I read it when I was a teenager (I think it's perfect for teens between 14 and 19).
It started kinda slow and I gotta say I disliked Gemma a great deal, couldn't relate to her, while I related to Nico and thought he should be protected at all cost. Melvin Burgess did a great job writing complex characters and turning things around (at least for me) and, by the end of the story, Gemma's character arc was inspiring and I ended up being very proud of her. Nico indeed suffered from prior, serious issues, so it's logical that his path went differently. It was sad but it wasn't surprising, even though I was rooting for him until the very last chapters...
The moment I started not being able to wait before picking up the book  was around the middle of the story, when the subject of heroin is introduced and it just gets grimmer and grimmer. From that moment on, it was a real page-turner with powerful writing, until the very end (Nico's father's chapter stirred me).
I loved that the story covered the before, during and the after of heroin addiction, without going - I think - overboard, nor glossing over dark themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness and Vomit