Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

83 reviews

valjeanval's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Emily St. John Mandel has a gift for writing about liminal spaces. The spaces between countries, time period, social classes, families, strangers. She creates such a web of deep, complicated, flawed characters and takes you on a time-bending journey through their lives. I hadn't read this before I listened to Sea of Tranquility which is really a continuation and honing of the skills (and several characters) she already had nearly mastered in this novel. While there are elements of magical realism and ghost stories, it's not one of her truly speculative works like SoT or Station Eleven, but it is absolutely worth the read if you enjoyed her writing in those books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

savshelfinger's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? Yes

3.75

Interesting fic about grief, memory, and the passage of time. 

The writing style is confusingly disjointed for me - maybe others disagree. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Death

Minor: Suicide

annaofjesup's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, and Death of parent

americattt's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

"She'd never believed in love at first sight but she did believe in recognition at first sight, she believed in understanding upon meeting someone for the first time that they were going to be important in her life, a sensation like recognizing a familiar face in an old photograph: in a sea of faces that mean nothing, one comes into focus. You."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent

quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

adventurouspotato's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Domestic abuse

lauraportalupi's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Drug abuse

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I had no idea this was connected to Sea of Tranquility, which I listened to last year, so it was neat to return to Vincent’s story.

Like her other works, Emily St John Mandel’s writing is lyrical and hypnotic, but unfortunately this could have used some editing, especially when dealing with the players involved in the Ponzi scheme.

I don’t regret reading it, but it could have been better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Minor: Domestic abuse

singalana's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

The vibes of this book didn't match my vibes at all. The narration in both the novel and the audiobook feels distant and resigned. It feels very aloof, and for at least the beginning of the book, the events feel inconsequential and frankly, uninteresting. At first it's difficult to know whether the events are connected somehow. I didn't care for any of the characters and it was hard to sympathise with them. When I picked it up, I thought the genres were going to be suspense and thriller, but there are none of those elements. 

Writing is good, and there are a few interesting, even picturesque moments, but this book is not what I thought it would be. It was aloof, resigned and meandering. The best thing that I could say about this book was that it was a bit haunting and made me feel adrift. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Drug abuse

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed Sea of Tranquility more but I’m still glad I read this one. It was interesting to get more of the back story for some of the characters in SoT, even though I didn’t particularly like any of them very much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Classism, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts