Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Roxy by Jarrod Shusterman, Neal Shusterman

8 reviews

sjknova's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug use, Self harm, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol

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

dododenise's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

This book tore me apart. You know that it will end in one death, and that keeps you on your toes. You remind yourself not to get attached, because you will loose one of them. Yet, you do. You fall right with them.

This was such a brilliant way to tell a story on addiction. There’s creativity in it, an idea that made it feel new and made me pay attention.
Like I am used from Shusterman, a brilliant idea is transformed into a masterpiece of a story. God, I wish I could work with my ideas in such a masterful way. 

The execution was careful and yet brutal. It did not shy away, but it did not loose nuance. It never forgot to mention the good drugs being with them, while making clear that that is not the story this book is telling. This book tells the story of abuse and addiction, and that there’s nothing pretty about it. 

All of this is to say: I loved the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Vomit, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

ecravens's review

dark emotional sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Medical content, Child death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Grief, and Vomit

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

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

booksargram's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

princess_peach's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this book as much as one can enjoy a book about addiction. It was interesting to have the perspectives of both Roxy and Adderall along with the two main characters, Issac and Ivy. I've seen some criticisms about stigmatizing the use of Adderall, which I understand and maybe the authors could have at least put an author's note highlighting that medications help many many many people and that medication stigma is a harmful barrier to people asking for or accessing needed medications.

I think the scenes with Rit(alin) and Adderall are really helpful to show how much the medication does help and how it is a good tool to use for ADD and ADHD. Ivy's increase in productivity and focus when she's taking it as prescribed shows that it works as it's being used. Ivy's misuse of the medication shows that it, along with any other drugs, can be harmful when misused. Roxy's statements about how it "helps people" are more clear-- more "told than showed", whereas Adderall's was more "shown than told."

I don't think that the book specifies that Adderall is inherently more or worse than other drugs that are used or misused; rather that it can be misused. I think it's an interesting approach to use prescription drugs as the main drugs of the book because prescription drugs may be more accessible. A guide for the names of the drugs would have been helpful, and the "Party" could have been a little more clearly explained. Also, the time line of events seemed a little rushed for me, though to be fair, I don't know if there's a "typical" timeline for addiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Violence, and Vomit