Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Women by Kristin Hannah

278 reviews

bringmybooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

✨Bring✨ | Borrow | Bypass

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, & Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Review: One of my favorite authors, Kristin Hannah continues to prove that she has an unbelievable way with words. It's unbelievable how quickly she sucks you into a novel and makes you care so much about all of the characters. There are parts of her books (especially her more recent ones) that are a bit melodramatic and require a bit of suspended disbelief, but to be honest I don't know that it bothers me so much. 

While there is a bit of heightened drama on the interpersonal side, the research and care that Hannah provides to the historical aspects of her novels is top tier and so welcomed. I feel like I learned a ton about the Vietnam War that I was not aware of before (mostly the women's experience of it), and I was very grateful for this book so that I could do more of my own research. 

I did really enjoy the characters in this novel, even when they're making the most piss poor decisions - but my favorite part of the novels, and pretty much all of Hannah's novels, is the way she writes relationships between women. I do think this book is her penultimate example of that, and the relationships between the Frankie and her two best friends will stick with me for a long time.
 

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ / 4.63 
 
Rating each element of the book out of 5★ 
Characters ★★★★ 
Atmosphere ★★★★★ 
Writing ★★★★ 
Plot ★★★★ 
Intrigue ★★★★ 
Logic ★★★★ 
Enjoyment ★★★★ 
Pacing ★★★★ 
Dialogue ★★★★ 

★ did not like / ★★ it was okay / ★★★ liked it / ★★★★ really liked it / ★★★★★ loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Torture, Miscarriage, Murder, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Pregnancy, War, Alcoholism, Cancer, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Self harm, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

ashrad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

2 stars because I finished it, but it’s not for me. I felt compelled to finish it- who knows why!? It was too sad and too long. I really didn’t like any of the characters. There were moments that made me tear up a bit because of (what I’m assuming is) historically accurate depictions of how veterans and veteran women were treated after coming home from Vietnam and all the fallout of the terrible atrocities they witnessed.

The fact that not one, but two, of Frankie’s loves were presumed dead and were actually alive really had me rolling my eyes. I also hated that so much time in the second half was spent on Rye… would have been great if that part of the book didn’t exist. Like I get she had to “hit rock bottom” but don’t you think all the trauma she experienced (literally the entire book) was enough to get there? And then when Jamie showed up at the end… Come on… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, Medical content, War, Grief, Gore, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident

jessiedoodah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, War, and Sexism

Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Addiction

Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident

jeggert10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Cursing, and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Abortion, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Police brutality, and Rape

esjackson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Grief, Violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Cursing, Suicide, Addiction, Child death, Alcohol, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Vomit, War, and Self harm

Moderate: Classism, Vomit, and Cancer

Minor: Torture, Hate crime, Abortion, and Police brutality

bearybooky's review

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It was difficult to read but im glad i did. Vietnam happened before i was born and i dont know much about it. Now i know more. 

It was very sad. So many bad things happen to the main character i was beginning to lose interest and hope. But there is just enough redemption. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Racial slurs, War, Violence, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Murder, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy

ashdoesalot's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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: Medical content, Body horror, War, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Medical trauma, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Self harm, Torture, Gun violence, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

emotional informative 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: War, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

oproy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

3.75

I will say, the last 10% of the book had me crying and questioning life. But the first 50-90% was hard to get through. It was a lot of muck, and I felt that Frances had to go through almost too much hurt. It felt unnecessary.

Like I would have believed her trauma after the first death.  I also did not like how quickly the author tried to characterize her at the end as an old spinster.  It was just such a quick turnaround after 200 pages of war, and 200 pages of Frankie spiraling.

 
Overall, I honestly probably would not recommend this book because it is so heavy and at points a little too preachy for my taste. However, the setting and idea behind it is very interesting and definitely something I want to look into further after reading. Even in school, I don’t feel that I learned much about the Vietnam War let alone the women in the war, so this feels like a jumping board. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, War, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Car accident, Medical content, Suicide, Blood, and Child death

shaney_swift's review

dark emotional sad 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: Violence, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Car accident, War, and Death

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Addiction, and Alcoholism