Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

As irmãs Blue + brindes by Coco Mellors

36 reviews

katerina_l's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

I can’t argue with the writing, it was often beautiful and emotional and poignant, but I’m not sure how I feel about the rest of it. This book was perhaps a bit long and often repetitive, and the sisters were mostly described to me, especially in the beginning. The characters felt a bit caricature-y, like the classic elder sister who is everyone’s mom, a middle child who floats around, and the youngest wild child who does whatever they want. There’s obviously some truth to this, these kinds of characters are common for a reason, but I wanted something more than that. Their relationship felt very real but also overdone. The ending was way too sweet and neat, I just didn’t buy their resolutions and dialogue. The mediation on grief and love and unburdening yourself from unhelpful expectations was good, but I just think other books/works have done this in more nuanced and interesting ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

cynthia_wlms's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

3.0

Preferred her first book - this one took me a while to care about the sisters but I eventually got there 3💙

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense 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

3.75

This was good — it came to me as part of a monthly book subscription I have with a literary fiction-ish bent, and it definitely fit that bill. The prologue immediately captured me; I love a complicated-family saga (or a complicated family saga, true either way), and I loved the immediate characterizations of the different sisters.

I struggled at points to stay really engaged with the book. I actually love that it basically does nothing but watch our main characters reckon with grief, but to my reading there were so many moments that I felt could have been crafted ever so slightly more specifically: specific repetition done either less often or more intentionally; inconsistencies of voice that felt again less intentional than they might be (particularly in the back and forth American/British-ness of certain characters and relationships); a good number of typos, oddly. I don’t often think about this stuff but I guess I felt that as good as this is, there was an even more special book within reach and it felt a little disappointing even as I thought it was good in many ways. The choice to write in multiple POVs — one I often do love — felt like it caused   the sisters to be deliberately kept separate for so much of the book; perhaps why I felt the prologue and epilogue were some of the most effective moments in the novel.

Anyway — it’s good, not (for me) great, and I’m not sure I would read more by CM. It’s sad but without big lingering impact, I think, which breaks my heart a little bit since there’s potentially so much intense and powerful stuff in here about family, addiction, grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

amazing dialogue. sometimes felt wordy but written with so much love and care. each main character is so fully fleshed out. grief is handled with so much care here. she is the girl the streets say she is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

gohgye's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

One of the best reads so far this year (take with a pinch of salt) 
Characters are well developed with their individual strengths and weaknesses. I really enjoyed how the author depicted the joys, sorrows and squabbles of sisterhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

noveltay's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

How can a book contain so much pain? Such a realistic novel of 4 sisters. The epilogue had me sobbing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

rehannahb's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse

novellearts's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy