Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty

10 reviews

sundayfever's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

Dark but good read. Collection of short stories strung together. Nice to read an indigenous story set here in Maine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Vomit, Child death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Violence, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Animal cruelty

ohnoitscoco's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death and Grief

lilias's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I started reading 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘻 purposefully. It was the night they caught the mass shooter whose name I’m omitting, and I wanted to read a book that was quintessentially Maine. Author Morgan Talty is a Penobscot writer. He teaches at UMaine Orono, which is where my husband went to school.
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I am also reading haunting or horror books this month and thought this was a horror book because of the title. It’s not! I mean, yes it deals with the horrors of marginalization, poverty, and addiction, but it wouldn’t be found in the horror section.
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I found myself smiling at moments and cringing at others. Talty’s characters are very human, sometimes unbearably so. Family, friendship, and love are themes that move them along with and against each other. This book broke my heart and at the same time satisfied my urge to want to read something beautifully Maine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Cursing, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Death, and Alcohol

heatherjchin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Dementia

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Death of parent

mcc004's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Dementia, Drug abuse, Death, Child death, Miscarriage, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infertility, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy

mscalls's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical content, Drug abuse, Racism, Vomit, Addiction, and Child death

bookfrisson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this. I think this has really sparked my interest in indigenous culture and learning more about life on reservations and lore from that culture. However, I feel hesitant to rate it since my rating could be affected by how much I didn’t understand about the culture as a whole. BUT, I really loved it! Idk I think I may settle on 4.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Drug use

Minor: Confinement, Dementia, and Cursing

_belty_'s review

dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Drug use, Dementia, Classism, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Child death

taylorjayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Car accident

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical content, Dementia, Classism, Blood, Cursing, and Animal death

readingrainbill's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

First off thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for giving me the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

This book is dark, gritty, and real. It says it's "stories" but don't expect a short story collection. This is a novel broken up between two stories that tie together. 

Night of the Living Rez jumps back and fort in time and it can get confusing but by the end it all makes sense. 

This is a sad story but not in the "cry your eyes out" sort of way but more of the lack of hope kind of sad. 

This was well written and an important book to read but just make sure you're in the right mindset to read it first. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault and Toxic friendship