Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

31 reviews

kyrad4983's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit

As many other reviews have mentioned - this book is not for the faint of heart. I felt nauseated, dreadful, disgusted - while the taxidermy scenes were difficult to stomach at times it was the raw chicken cooking scenes that broke me. I wanted to scream “WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS OH MY GOD” Babes - everyone in this narrative is getting salmonella. The text oozes with grime, artfully mirroring the nasty coils of grief entangling this family. However, in the book’s attempts to raise the stakes on the gross, it runs out of steam handling the implications of said actions.

Jessa brings up the point that murdering animals is anti-social behavior and neither she nor the narrative returns to this again. The resolution sees Bastien outsourcing his “dirty deeds” but not stopping them, or contending with what that predilection might mean

It was hard to root for the characters but perhaps that says more about me than the writing itself. This is not a light read - by the time things were tied up, I had recoiled too many times to feel truly satisfied by the ending. I did appreciate the eviscerating self-reflection peppered throughout - Jessa processing the weight of her father’s death, her mom’s dildo and latex fettered grief process and the magnitude of distance created by avoidance. I would’ve loved to relish in the queerness of this book and it’s meandering path to a happy ending but I really just needed a shower.

kinomatica's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Primarily well-written descriptions of creating taxidermy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Outing, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer

frecca95's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

charlieeee's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Pregnancy

rigbees's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is often labelled as funny, but it is fundamentally about a family dealing with the still-lasting fallout of the death of the main character's father. It unpacks the ways in which relationships end up in cycles, even when everyone is unhappy or conflicted about them. There's a fundamental messiness about the book and the characters. However, the book avoids pathologizing the various ways the characters cope with the relationships they're in.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

queenbeemimi's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual content and Cancer

abitdicier's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

kp_writ's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

 📚 I loved this exploration of grief and the many ways people try to move on (or not) from a loss.
📚 Jessa-Lynn is a hard to root for protagonist but you find yourself doing so anyway, or at least I did. We love a messy gay.
📚 The taxidermy passages are not for the faint of heart, but ultimately I did find them fascinating, and began to understand the meditative quality the work could take on for Jessa-Lynn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

skyesreads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Grief, and Suicide