Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

25 reviews

theiagrace's review against another edition

funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the first fiction book I've actually finished in years. The preface would catch you off guard and the break in the fourth wall stopped me multiple times to check if I've been actually paying attention. It was a fun read. Every single character is flawed and slowly built up into a fiery reveal. However, I don't know how I feel about the biggest twist at the end, I haven't decided yet. But that doesn't take away from how much a good time this book is.

P.S. I've experienced needing to rent snow chains from Jindabyne and run a sedan up the snowy mountains on turtle pace and because of that I've decided early on that I like Ernest, from shared trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide

Themes sprinkled in are very heavy but treated lightheartedly

as that is how the narrator deals with difficult things.

skersnick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Blood, Child death, Gore, Medical content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Pregnancy, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse

orimega's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This 10 hour audio book felt like a 5 hour one! I was entertained every minute, so the time flew by. I struggle to find mystery and thriller books I enjoy — but I really enjoyed how meta this book was! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, and Violence

ohgenevieve's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Alcohol, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

We find out that the

child death

didn’t actually occur

fr_eddie's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

Ernest mi sta facendo così tante volte l'occhiolino che credo abbia un tic nervoso.

Libro interessante, un thriller con un serial killer e una famiglia non molto normale in una pensione sulla neve, con una narratore che prende la quarta parete e la fa direttamente esplodere. E per quanto sia una mossa interessante e originale, non è nelle mie corde. Mi sembra più una mossa utilizzata dagli autori quando sanno che il loro stile non è eccezionale e sperano che facendo degli spoiler i lettori saranno inter ssati e continueranno a leggere, but that's just my guess.

Thriller interessante, con personaggi realistici e per questo anche travagliati. Penso a te, Lucy. Che io u amore ti voglio bene però lov se tuo marito ti manda le carte del divorzio accettalo. Meriti di meglio.
Erin personaggio interessante, capisco il suo volersi allontanare da Ernest per la questione dei figli, ma onestamente non so se chiavarsi il fratello sia la mossa migliore. Anche tu meriti di meglio, babygorl.
Katherine e Sophia altri due bei personaggi, cin il complesso di colpa e la dipendenza. Sarà che mi piacciono le donne, sarà che da grande sogno di essere un bimbo come Andy.

Twist interessante e unexpected (anche se se non ti mostrano il cadavere dovresti essere sempre all'erta), ma il personaggio della Lingua Nera forse un po' cartoonist. Il tono del libro è serio, crime, nonostante ci siano battute e momenti leggeri, ma il serial killer, quando si rivela, è un po' troppo. 
Uccide perché è pazzo pazzo, perché sogna di soffocare, perché credeva di trovare la propria famiglia di supercattivi. Capisco il trauma, ma avere un trentenne che crede in questa famiglia di cattivoni è...particolare, ecco.

La questione della macchina, poi, il crimine di Audrey, mi sembra un po' impossibile. Capisco che lei sia stata molto stressata e traumatizzata e io la giustifico 100%, ma, sapendo che Ernest aveva sei anni, che Jeremy ne aveva cinque e che Micheal è il fratello maggiore, qualcuno mi può spiefare che ci facevano nei passeggini? Sarò io che non conosco abbastanza i bambini, ma un creature di sei anni mi sembra abbastanza intelligente da riuscire ad aprire una portiera o spaccare un vetro. Ma auanto pare no.

Altro elemento che si distacca un po' dal resto del libro è la questione delle foto: Robert è un classico padre di famiglia che per mantenersi fa dei furtarelli, quindi mi spieghi com'è possibile che fa la mossa da spy story per nasconderle? Roberto il padre di famiglia cinquantenne? Capisco fossero importanti, ma mi sembra più il tipo da sotterrarle sotto un albero, soprattutto per come ci viene descritto. Che lui usi una mossa da James Bond mi sembra solo un plot twist interessante che l'autore ha creato e ha messo nonostante non fosse credibile . 

Tutta la storia di Rebecca e il vero plot twist finale alla fine li vedo con una lente di distacco, perché tutta la questione delle foto e della morte scaturiscono da una cosa così poco credibile. Ma, comunque, restano una trovata carina per spiegare qualcosa lasciato un po' troppo aperto.

Lo consiglierei? Sì, perché nonostante provassi a limitarmi l'ho finito in una questione di giorni. Uno stile davvero scorrevolissimo e pieno di cliffhanger, daje Benjamin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Car accident, Suicide, and Alcoholism

the_monicabaker's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Death

agirlsnightbookbash's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Child death

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Torture, Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child death, Infertility, and Gaslighting

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.” 

Fantastic. Twists all the way to the last page. The extra .25 is for the last quarter of the book or so, as so much happened right after each other that beautifully brought everything together and turned things on their head. I loved the narrative voice of Ern (who isn’t a crime writer but instead is a how-to-be-a-crime-writer writer), who recounts the book’s events with a sense of humor about the writing process. He even gives the page numbers at the beginning on which every death in the book will occur - something which sounds like it would spoil a great deal, but things often happen differently than you expect them to. 

A great read, though definitely check the content warnings, as it wasn’t quite as light as I expected it to be from word of mouth recommendations. It gets into revenge, PTSD, infidelity, infertility, and addiction, and descriptions of trauma and injuries were a bit heavier than I expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Infertility, Suicide, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Car accident

katelynprice's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

4.0

It’s clever and fun and a good mystery with a well-plotted ending. It was just a lot. Keeping the characters straight took a lot of mental effort, and it just felt a bit convoluted at times. The charm made up for it, though. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Infertility, Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Cancer, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Gun violence