Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Les sept morts d'Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

46 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I found this book somewhat overwhelming - it was so convoluted that I felt exhausted reading it. It felt like the author was trying to shoehorn his story into a certain format and it didn’t really fit. 

I liked the concept - a single entity jumping, or thrust into, a lot of different bodies. In that sense it reminded me of Claire North’s Touch. But this book left me with too many questions. I felt unsatisfied reading it, that too much was going on for it to make sense. 

That said, I liked the story. I just wish it had been tighter. 

An aside: I wonder why this is titled The 7 1/2 Deaths whereas the British edition is The Seven Deaths. Perhaps because The Seven Deaths of Evelyn H [Hardcastle] is too close to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn H [Hugo]?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, Drug use, and Eating disorder

artstitute's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was full of twists and turns, some of which I found more compelling than others.

The big twist that the whole plot was some cooked-up punishment a la Black Mirror kind of felt unnecessary to me. It didn't ruin the rest of the book, but it introduced a lot of moral quandaries that I don't think added much. OTOH, the Evelyn twist? IMMACULATE.

All in all, though, I definitely couldn't put it down and I would recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal death, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Torture

heoleen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

The story itself is very unique. However, I was confused throughout most of it, which is why I gave it a lower rating. It was difficult keeping track of the different characters and their personalities. The concept was good though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Violence, and Body shaming

Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Death

shaylashaylala's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

mgcord's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

It was fine. Slow to get into, incredibly so. But the ending was good. It definitely surprised me towards the end, I just struggled to dig into the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Rape

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

This is interesting, but it had way too many characters for me to keep track of, and I didn't feel like I "knew" any of them, even after 17 hours of audiobook. I also may have not been a huge fan of the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Stalking, Blood, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Bullying, Classism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Avoid if you don't like: torture, trying to remember about 24 vaguely similar characters, or telling instead of showing.

kimmykelly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Drug use, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, and Grief

smkelly1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

This book is slow in the beginning but it works. It all adds up.  The last 25% of the book I didn’t want to put down. The twists and turns and a major plot twist at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Suicide, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Torture

augdafrog's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a really wonderful experience. When I first started it, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, as everything is a bit befuddled and there's a reasonably large cast of characters involved, but it's so well written I was immersed and attached in no time.

This reminded me a bit of the play/TV film "An Inspector Calls." Not necessarily for any real direct reason other than they're both examples of very unique ways to approach a mystery, but that alone must have made the connection. I'll be very excited to watch this whenever they finally get it in series form.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, and Stalking