Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

11 reviews

dapperoreo's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Vomit, Trafficking, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Self harm, Cursing, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Vomit, Confinement, Classism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Slavery, Child abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, and Sexism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

hamstringy's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

a lot of grappling with the insidious and abusive structures that underlie our everyday life, and yet it still feels hopeful and deeply empathetic. a really good book to read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Forced institutionalization

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, and Cursing

nialiversuch's review

emotional reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Alcoholism

bethnash's review against another edition

challenging inspiring fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Gaslighting

Minor: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Animal death, Child abuse, and Torture

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not by any means a bad book (or rather novella) but I think that its shortness left me wanting a bit more, in terms of plot exploration and side characters' in-depth portrayal. 

The main theme is hinted at quite a lot but it is not really properly delved into
and I think that readers might be left a bit confused, especially if you know little (like me) about this aspect of Irish history. 

I still think that it is a pleasant read, with a nice writing style and, above all, I quite liked how the main character was depicted and his narrative trajectory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Confinement

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Cancer, Bullying, Vomit, Suicide, Trafficking, and Excrement

james1star's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

I’m slightly torn on how to rate this short novella-esque book. I think this will only be a short review. We follow Billy Furlong in a small 1980s town during a period economic hardships. It’s set in the run-up to Christmas which is a busy time for Billy as he delivers coal to many people. Whilst delivering to a convent, he finds evidence of some girls being overworked and neglected - this makes him think and especially thinks back to his own upbringing and how he was born out of wedlock but his mother’s landlady/boss kept her on and acted as a relative to Billy when his mum died young. He has a wife and five daughters and is overall a nice character, treats his own workers well and is well perceived by everyone in the town. There is more to the plot but I don’t want to spoil anything. The characters are okay, Billy is very lovable and is shown to be quite developed but due to its shortness, less can be said for the other characters. The writing is good, easy to understand and I did really like the Irish-specific references - some terms/phrases I did need to look up but I appreciated the new knowledge. It only touches on the impact of Magdalen laundries (which is expanded on in the notes at the end) and how they worked by taking in young, unmarried mothers and the mistreatment of the girls and babies in their care. Also the influence of the church in Ireland, it’s people and other organisations is discussed but both in not as much detail or expansion as maybe necessary. So Yhh I dunno, it was good and I did enjoy it but I think I’d of preferred it had it been a bit longer.

I did like the idea of focusing on the small things too which was nice but again… please can I have some more? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

amselot's review

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

lou_o_donnell's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Excrement, Cancer, and Grief