Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Another Country by James Baldwin

21 reviews

romcomapologist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

Mr Baldwin your pen is unbeatable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Alcohol

julela's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition

5.0

This is probably the most raw depiction of love (in its many forms: familial, sexual, platonic, etc) I've ever seen. It's a mess. It's angry. It's heartbreaking. It's disgusting. Of it's time and also transcends it. 

I was going to originally start this review with "messy bitches doing their messy bitch activities" but I think we find a lil bit of ourselves, maybe the parts we dislike the most, in these characters in some form. Turns out, we were the messy bitches all along. That said, everyone in here could benefit from a few years of therapy and couple's counseling. An intervention or two. 

This definitely warrants a reread, and I highly recommend listening to the music mentioned in the book while reading. It's such a curated vibe that Baldwin put together that I fear I will never hear Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding without thinking about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

cmcrockford's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Going full five here, the last fifty to sixty pages are just extraordinary writing about love and race and sex and fidelity and really salvation. So far this is the best Baldwin novel I've read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

This must have driven people in 1962 into an absolute frenzy.

kirkspockreads's review against another edition

There is nothing wrong with this book. It is just taking me forever to get through and I want to move on but don’t have the brain space for it right now. Great book, powerful writing, not the right time for me to be reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

catherine_thegreat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

cthulhu_calamari's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol

pabi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

emlibe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

mayze's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Another amazing book by James Baldwin. Another Country tells the story of a social circle of NYC bohemians in the 1950s. Rufus a black jazz musician, Vivaldo an Irish-Italian write, Cass a wealthy liberal housewife, Ida a singer and Rufus' younger sister and Eric, an actor who just returned from some time off in France. While reading this book it's easy to understand why it's held in such high regard. The gripping writing and its clever way to interweaving different themes (racism, sexism, homosexuality/bissexuality) was decades ahead of its time and still does it better than the average book who tries to connect themes today. The characters were well written, they all have clear faults (some of them heinous) and even though none of them were overall likeable, I didn't find them particularly unlikeable either. They just felt like three-dimensional characters were the complexity and themes of the plot make some of their actions understandable from their POV. As usual, Baldwin's descriptions of NYC are very effective, you can easily picture Seventh Avenue, the dive bars the characters are fond of, coast towns in Southern France, and even how chaotic and smelly the characters' living quarters are. I highly recommend this, it's very uncomfortable at times but I feel that readers can learn a lot from it and easily put themselves in the characters' shoes even if they don't necessarily agree with their actions.