Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Roxy by Jarrod Shusterman, Neal Shusterman

15 reviews

yourlocalvirgo's review against another edition

3.5

I enjoyed the writing in this book - Neal Shusterman just has a way to completely enamor me - and I greatly enjoy reading stories about addiction, drugs, mental health, etc. However, this book felt less about drugs and more about fantasy. The personification of the drugs was a neat twist - but it left me with a lot of questions that bug me to my core. I also disliked the perspectives that the book was written in - it was very difficult to feel sympathetic for the characters. I also don't think the character's actions were entirely realistic - I wanted to see more internal dialogue of the characters mentally struggling with their addictions, instead of flippantly deciding to "take another pill to stay focused". 
All in all, this was a decent read, but it was lacking in a few areas that really could've made it a great read. Perhaps this would've been better off as a short story, similar to the individual excerpts from each drug we saw within every chapter.

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Content Warnings

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

sienna1508's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This is definitely one of my favourite books!! The whole book is so well written and really hooked me. The blurb for this book is a little confusing so let me re-write it: 
Drugs are personified to be like deities, existing and interacting with you when they take that drug. Most of them have the goal of taking the person to 'the Party' which is where they can be handed off to 'stronger' drugs or taken into the VIP room which is the equivalent of ODing. 
So a massive TW for drug abuse, plus also toxic relationship. 
<minor-spoiler> The story mainly follows a brother and sister Isaac and Ivy, and you learn from the first chapter that one of them dies, you just don't know who. </minor-spoiler> 
Doing some research into who the characters are before reading the book is useful, for example, Mary Jane is marijuana, and she has a business suit because she is legalised now. So all of the drugs have their own corresponding personality and description. 
Overall, this book is amazing and should definitely be read by more people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Child death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder and Vomit

ferdie's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

Even though it was fast, if you have any connection with addiction, it will make you reflect. It was very thoughtful and well put together for how horrible the content can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

atringas's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Incredible book. A very sensitive and creative exploration of some very deep, touching and emotional subject matters. The authors nail Roxy in a tone that is accessible and engaging without doing their subjects a disservice, or becoming derivative. 
An amazing read which, while slightly out of the ordinary, engages the brain and the heart in a unique and compelling tale of the struggles of modern life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

graciffer's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Medical content and Terminal illness

oliverreeds's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

writing is good. but its a little heavy handed. doesnt leave a lot of the metaphor to the imagination.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

kate_mare's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

It was very slow to read but a good book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Addiction, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

kshertz's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was such a good read and also, deeply disturbing and emotional. It is a fictional story of sibling addiction but at the same time, it has the drugs as main characters themselves. That took some getting used to and felt gimmicky and silly at first but then I fell into the deeper meaning and was able to fully learn and feel the emotion of addiction and the pain from this that is felt by families and the cycle continuing. Hard but good and important read. Surprised it’s YA!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, Grief, Gaslighting, Death, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

lottykarottie's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Berauschende Lesereise

Beschreibung: 
Als Isaac der überirdisch schönen Roxy begegnet, zieht sie ihn sofort in ihren Bann. Er fühlt sich lebendig wie nie, alles ist leicht und nichts scheint unmöglich. Isaac ahnt nicht, dass Roxy kein normales Mädchen ist, sondern eine Droge, hergestellt in einem Labor, um die Menschen von ihrem Schmerz zu befreien. Und Millionen Menschen lieben sie dafür. Doch das ist Roxy nicht genug. Sie will beweisen, wie tödlich sie ist. 
Stell dir vor, Drogen wären Menschen wie du und ich ... Was würden sie fühlen, denken und wovon würden sie heimlich träumen?

In diesem Buch erzählen Neal und Jarrod Shusterman auf visuelle und kognitiv anspruchsvolle Weise die Wirkung von Drogen, dessen Missbrauch und die verheerenden Auswirkungen auf das Leben aller betroffenen. Dabei ist es egal ob diese legalisiert sind wie Alkohol oder illegal wie LSD oder Oxycodone. Man wird förmlich ein gesogen in eine Welt zwischen Rausch, Realitätsverlust und Fantasy- da die Drogen personifiziert werden. 
Es ist nicht vergleichbar mit anderen Jugendbüchern und trifft den Zeitgeist, indem Experimente von Jugendlichen mit Drogen nicht oft genug thematisiert werden. Außerdem visualisiert  die Geschichte eindringlich, wie leicht es ist in die Abhängigkeit zu rutschen und dass niemand vor eine solchen Sucht bzw. Abhängigkeit sicher ist, besonders innerhalb der USA, denn dort werden Opiate großzügig als Schmerzmittel verordnet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

wintermomof4's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism