Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

84 reviews

orlagal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Body horror, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Self harm, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Blood, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

thursdd4y's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

2.5

The ending was lovely, but this book felt 200 pages too long and I really started to hate picking it up. Personally a lot of it could’ve been cut and made everything a lot more powerful and engaging, because at times it felt tedious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

yellowbinge's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Self harm, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Drug use

hduc's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Police brutality, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Violence, Animal death, Drug use, Addiction, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Alcohol

phoebe_reading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Self harm

lauramotta's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Self harm

bwray1's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Self harm

stabilesero's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-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

I have a soft spot for books that contain characters with mental illness, and Ozeki worked magic with Benny's character. Very few authors are able to portray the harrowing details of living with mental illness, and she absolutely hit the mark. 
Benny and his mother's story is one of grief, struggle within society, expectations one puts on oneself and society's expectations; as well as all the things including growing up, community and belonging. 
I loved this book so much and I really didn't expect to. It had been sitting on my tbr shelf for so long because I feared it's size but it was worth it. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but between the crows, jazz music, B-Man and all the other intricate details of this book; this was my book to a T.
I will absolutely be picking up more by Ozeki.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Cursing, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Bullying

gensz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Drug abuse

giralka's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

I think this book has a similar tone to Johnathan Saffran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in which both the characters are grieving the loss of their fathers through a tragic event. The coping mechanism kicks in differently for the two of them. The story here also focuses on the mother’s grief of losing a husband while also trying to keep it together for Benny’s sake. I like that we can see that she’s clearly struggling to cope and to get better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug abuse