Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

25 reviews

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

This book gives me a weird sense of nostalgia, I read it for the first time at 17/18 and it was my first foray into speculative fiction. 

I think it's the perfect combo of speculative fiction, interesting writing, characterization, intriguing plot, and weirdness.

The only bad thing about this book is that you can never get the first reading experience back once you know what happened to the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, Excrement, Alcohol, and War

Child sexual abuse/ trafficking

vetrina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

What a great book! I absolutely loved the writing style and how Atwood switched between past and present timelines seamlessly. The world-building and plot is amazing, very dark, and shocking. It's a great critique of capitalism, eugenics/genetic engineering, technology, the pharmaceutical industry, classism, and climate change. And it's a great exploration of human nature in general too. Very excited to read the next book (The Year of the Flood).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, War, and Classism

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-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

4.5

Maggie A youre such a slay
What an icon
This is quite fucked and and quite fucking wonderful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cait's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

al3x1113's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

this book kept me at the edge of my seat, always anticipating the next big reveal of some detail that would lead the novel to its end. it was fascinating, and such an interesting story full of social commentary about society and technology

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Unsure how to feel on this one. Atwood is such a good writer that I was pulled into the narrative and the world she'd built despite my immediate dislike for the protagonist. There are some interesting themes with a lot of 'what ifs' but my god, this was so bleak and depressing. Glad I made it to the end to see a bit of hope but it was quite the trudge and not at all what I was expecting!

Very reminiscent of 1984 and A Clockwork Orange in terms of its violence, intensity and reflections on the darker side of humanity. Fans of these novels (I was not a fan of either one) will almost definitely enjoy Oryx and Crake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense 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.
If you don't like exposition I would not reccomend this to you. Over half of the book is spent remembering the past, but in the context of the world and situation it makes sense. 
Jimmy/Snowman is a fairly accurate depiction of a dude and how a dudes mind works. Oryx and Crake are fleshed out very well and Snowman's memories are played out well. The most interesting part to me is the way that Oryx and Crake have been deity-ifed (not a word but you get my point) by Snowman and The Children of Crake. 
The symbolism is very interesting. 
The ending is ambiguous, on purpose, and gives very vague answers. It's of course frustrating to not have that satisfying ending that answers all your questions but that is the point of the book. The future remains uncertain.
Overall a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Excrement, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rzh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

kerttuli's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Genocide, Gore, and Misogyny

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Homophobia, and Medical content

poetry_shaman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism