Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Shadow in the Glass by J.J.A. Harwood

3 reviews

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

0.5

As a fairytale girlie, I specifically chose this book to be the first book I read in 2024. To start off the year with something that I would fall in love with and there many aspects of this book that were great. But it ultimately fell incredibly flat. As mentioned by many others, the insane amount of plot holes, the potential they had!! The open ending . . . what? I understand wanting to leave the ending open to interpretation, but considering the rest of the book, it just didn't work. Most importantly, the main character . . . how power hungry or fool heardy (or both) do you have to be in order to completely ignore the reality of your situation. How cold hearted do you have to be, to continue on despite the lethal cost of your choices.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Classism, Sexism, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

wordswitwonder's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Classism, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Pedophilia

Minor: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy

kaitlynnnng's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.0

This review contains spoilers.

This is yet another book that’s difficult for me to review. I listened to the audiobook and followed along in the physical book. If it weren’t for the audiobook, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to finish this book as quickly as I did. It was very slow-paced (except for the last 80 pages or so), and I definitely got bored more than once. The writing style was not my favorite for when I’m reading for pleasure. However, this is a great example of gothic literature, and, as an English teacher/former English major, I can appreciate that. I can definitely see the Gender and Literature classes I took in college reading this book!

I’ve read many reviews where people said Eleanor, the main character, was a terrible, selfish person who made terrible choice after terrible choice. For most of the story, I completely disagreed with those reviews. While unfortunate things did happen as a result of Eleanor’s wishes, and while I didn’t necessarily connect with her, I completely understood why she made her choices/wishes she made, I felt bad for her, and I recognized that she tried to take care of those she cared for. However, in Parts Six and Seven, Eleanor was undeniably more selfish, and, at the very end, she refused to take any responsibility for her own actions, which I didn’t like.

The Epilogue creates a strangely satisfying ending, though it’s far from happy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Abortion, Car accident, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Miscarriage