Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Looking for Alaska by John Green

13 reviews

mandycantsleep's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

I remember reading this in middle school and absolutely loving it. So I decided to reread it now, as a 22-year-old, and I cannot say it resulted in the same outcome. I feel like a lot of the book was ... completely unnecessary.
The second half of the book felt super drawn out, I think it could have been wrapped up in just a few chapters. I was listening to the audiobook, so it ended up being 3.5 hours of the second half. Honestly, I started to lose interest after an hour in.
It was fairly obvious to me why Alaska was going out (maybe it was my memory from 10 years ago? Or more likely, just the fact that she talked about her worst day prior (her mom's death), and the date she drove off was around the same time in January.) I was just getting really annoyed at the characters, I felt like screaming through my screen, "SHE WAS GOING TO SEE HER MOM! OBVIOUSLY!" So when they finally figured it out, it wasn't some big conclusion for me.
I also think maybe it was just a bit young for me. While I was definitely too young to be reading this in middle school, I think maybe high school is the best demographic for this book. Overall, it's a really intense story and had me hooked in the first half, but lost me in the second.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Addiction

esterslibrary's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Death, Bullying, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

araumi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Bullying, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual content

chronicoverthinker's review against another edition

sommerferien

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Death

valgarciq's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Car accident, and Death

Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.5

I bought this book years ago and it’s just been chilling in my TBR pile until now. I think partly because John Green writes amazing, deep, tragic, teenage love stories and I’m not always in the mood for that. But the day came, and I loved this book. It was deep and the characters were all so smart and multifaceted, they were like real kids fighting through all the ups and downs they have to face daily, while still trying to be silly and have fun. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Grief, Suicide, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

arshiya_amreen90786's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

rory_john14's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Sexism, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Mental illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Toxic relationship, Classism, and Medical content

zoonewrevues's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-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

5.0

Though this book is far from perfect, it came to me in an important time in my life. It formed me, gave me hope, and showed there are books out there that I can relate to.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

romanysky's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Death, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts