Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

18 reviews

sandysmith's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Yasmin Ghorami is engaged to fellow doctor Joe Sangster, loving families merging together. Yasmin and her brother Arif brought up by Baba the patriarchal Doctor father and their mum Anisah.  Arif and Baba have a strained relationship, which deteriorates when it's found out his girlfriend Lucy is pregnant. Joe has a difficult relationship with his overbearing mother, Harriet, and is in therapy for his secret sex addiction. Secrets, lies, race, class, gender, faith, sexuality, clashing cultures, relationships, and family rifts are at the heart of this book. It is a messy story of strained family dynamics. A great compelling read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Addiction, and Islamophobia

lngoo's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

3.5

Overall I enjoyed it but some parts felt like it was dragging, and then the ending felt quite abrupt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, and Addiction

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I struggled to rate this because, by and large, I did enjoy it. Ali has crafted a family saga for the ages, her characters distinctly drawn, their overlapping stories and struggles compelling. (I recall reading a review that compared it to a Dickens novel, which feels apt!) But I also found it incredibly slow to read -- the pace isn't entirely there, and I don't think the story warrants five hundred pages. Make of that what you will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Violence, Alcoholism, and Death

katgent's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Infidelity, Islamophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Kidnapping

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

liblibby's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

It’s not the most fast-paced book I’ve ever read by any means—which is just fine. The author put in so much work to make sure that we love these characters which gives us grace for them when they do things that seem destructive. 
It’s a beautiful story about all sorts of relationships and the way they can shift and change in our lives. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Violence, and Addiction

Minor: Islamophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

sib_reads's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Islamophobia

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Addiction, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Abandonment, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

rmanaa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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 and Rape

jesikasbookshelf's review

emotional slow-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? No

3.0

This is a long book for those who enjoy largely character driven books.

Monica Ali uses her large character list to explore interesting and important situations, attitudes and experiences in the modern world. Trigger warnings for addiction, racism and rape. This is not a light read, but it is a rewarding one if you can stick with unlikeable characters as they work through the worst of themselves and start to become someone a bit better.

The book explores what it means to love someone, what it means to he active in your authenticity, what it is to stand up for who you really want to be. From a doctor's responsibility for their patients though to the responsibility children and parents feel towards each other, from the experience of discrimination through to the ignorance of one's prejudice, this book captures and asks the reader to think about so much.

It is very well done. It is is also very long and relatively slow, I wish I had been in the mood for that kind of read. As it was it took me longer to read this than I would normally and I struggled with it because of that - my advice would be to pick this one up when you are in the right mood for a long book you can live in for some time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Racism, and Addiction