Reviews

Bewilderness by Karen Tucker

aleckscasablancs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Great book and pretty informative into the world of narcotics. The characters were challenging in their stubbornness but overall I was invested.

caleighrian's review against another edition

4.0

ooooh my gosh. brutal and beautiful and very effective

heatheryandziak's review against another edition

3.0

This book ended up just being a little dry and boring for me. For being about addiction and recovery and having crazy drug stories you would think it would be more of a page turner than it actually is.

kristensreadingnook's review against another edition

4.0

As a friend to someone with an opioid addiction, this book is hard, and yet, clarifying to me about things I haven’t understood before. I’ve read Empire of Pain and watched Dopesick on Hulu and I’m disgusted by Big Pharma, as are so many people. This novel brought an even more personal glimpse into the real people who are suffering from addiction. Even though this is fiction, the characters felt so real.

I hadn’t heard of this before the Aspen Words long list, but I hope it gets much more recognition because Karen Tucker has written an incredible book.

ghostmomxoxo's review against another edition

5.0

TW: sexual assault, addiction

This book took me so long to read because it was so difficult to get through, but now that I’m finished I genuinely feel like it’s one of the most important books I’ve ever read. This is a harrowing story of drug addiction, and an incredibly intimate peek into the lives of those who are suffering within the cycle. I never once stopped rooting for either Irene or Luce.

Karen Tucker is an incredible writer, and this story just felt so… human. Irene and Luce were such tangible characters, I felt like I could have reached into the pages and brought them into the real world. The way the story is told non-chronologically, and the stream of consciousness style of some of the chapters was just pulsing with so much heart, and was SO evocative.

I cried so hard during the last two chapters I almost couldn’t make out the words on the page. The way Tucker is able to capture grief and devotion and love and resilience in Bewilderness is nothing short of amazing.

empyrealcrown's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

saibhandari's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

earthmother73's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

aubreylynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

stargirlsky's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

this book was so beautiful, heart breaking, intense, tragic. it did such a good job of capturing girlhood but from such a horrifyingly sad lens, I also really loved the ending