Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

11 reviews

sofiajearally's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

I don't know where to start when I have to talk about this book, but let's give it a shot!

I want to start by pointing out how gorgeous Tess Gunty's writing is! It sometimes might be over-flourished for some readers but it was mind-blowing for me. Besides, she can really change her style to fit the characters or the setting of the scenes, which makes the writing never boring.

However, I struggled to get through the first quarter of the book and ended up reading it over the course of several months. Both because life happened so I couldn't read much but also because I felt that the story dragged on and on and on. In fact, I felt like there was no story because of the multiple storylines that added up to nothing. That is, until the chapter Variables (the girls that get it, get it). Suddenly, I couldn't put the book down. Then there were a few good chapters until the rise to the climax but I was a bit less invested.

So, when I finished it, I didn't really know what to think. Did I like it? I wasn't sure, beside that chapter. But I knew I wanted to skim it in order to annotate it because of the superb writing. When doing that, it hit me, I understood some of the author's choices way better in terms of storylines and realized it all came together by the end of the book. However, I stand by the fact that some things could have been cut off or shortened to make the whole more coherent and cohesive.

So, if like me you struggle at the beginning, please try to persevere for your own sake, it's really worth it!

To finish, I want to talk about Blandine's character. I didn't like her at first. But as the story went by and especially when I went back to annotate the book, I understood what had happened: she's seen by every character as this I'm-not-like-other-girls type of girl/manic pixie dream girl, and I fell for it too! But when you pay attention when it's her POV, she's just a girl. A teenage girl. Sure she can seem a bit weird but first off, she's traumatized and second, who's never had specific interests others deemed as weird as a teenager or wanted to dye their hair? She's actually very relatable, like when she plucks her leg hairs thinking of all the other things she could be doing instead, or the whole story with James (he's an ass and I hate him more and more by the way). So yeah, go Blandine!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Medical content

books_withblooms's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Infidelity, and Mental illness

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

In this ambitious and then painfully pointed examination of contemporary struggle, Gunty employs a unique narrative style and extensive knowledge of her spiritual and philosophical forebears to great effect. The late, Dostoevsky-esque monologue chapter was the novel's highlight and a pleasure to parse through. Gunty has a keen eye for phenomena one passively observes but never articulates. However, when it finally arrived, the scene anticipated from page one felt underexamined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Classism, Blood, Mental illness, Cursing, Violence, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Minor: Vomit and Sexual content

laurataylor's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

samseyz's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

While I did find this book to be interesting, there were some moments where the characters were a bit too pretentious. While I did appreciate the various themes and social commentaries, I feel like it was hammered in a bit too much at times. One of my favorite aspects was how interconnected the characters were.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Addiction

sophiebv's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

jabakken's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Alcohol

mirandaandtitania's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? Yes

The writing in this was stunning!! I felt like underlining every sentence but I managed to restrain myself. The disjointed narrative did hinder my enjoyment as I found myself just wanting to know what was occurring in C4 but there was good payoff at the end. The last chapter was lovely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Self harm

emmas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-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

4.0

I found this novel super interesting and thought provoking. The author experimented a lot with form and for me, in some places it worked and in some places it didn’t… I think I would have liked more consistency but I can appreciate what she tried to do. I wouldn’t recommend this if you don’t like lit fic (literary fiction), but it does get at a lot of important topics in our society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Drug use

amanduhhhpls's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

This was an overwhelming reading experience from start to finish. A trying too hard to be quirky cast of characters, overly purple prose, and a climax of plot centered around every kind of abuse imaginable. I kept expecting all the characters to intersect and the plot to count together and it never did. The more I read, the more disappointed I became.

This lacked any sort of the depth it was obviously trying to have. 

If you’re squeamish about animal abuse at all, stay far far FAR away from this. I regret reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Murder, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship