Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

18 reviews

serenityxnicole's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Beautiful book! As an oldest sister, this made me cry twice! The only complaint is I hate the ending, but overall a good read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

pumpkinmasterug's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.75

Not the best novel I’ve read, but definitely not the worst. It presents grief through a range of perspectives and is definitely dark and uncomfortable at several points. I enjoyed majority of the book, however

the possession scene spoiled the tone of it all for me, especially since the argument for Susie sleeping with her crush instead of tracking down her killer is her reclaiming what was taken from her during her murder, but after she hopes her father dies to be in heaven with her TWICE she let’s her family suffer in grief when she could’ve caught her killer or unveiled the location of her body and helped them. Of course that would’ve been very cliche so I understand why Seabold avoided this, but it just made Susie come across very selfish and quite unlikeable.

It’s a bit corny in some places and I don’t think the writing style will suit everyone, and some of the characters are so flat and predictable they read more like AI trying to blend in than actual human beings, but I honestly didn’t mind that too much in this case. Overall though, it’s a good read with a hopeful message and I did enjoy it for the most part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Death of parent

deshanejt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

The premise was dark, heartbreaking and sweet; The reality was, almost halfway thru the book, the plot seemed lost to me.

Painstakingly, you watch the family struggle to accept their grief while a community never stops moving forward. 

I guess the message the author wanted to leave us with would be life goes on. Remembering those you've lost along the way doesn't have to be painful... Lastly, it's a stark reminder, that justice isn't always served, but monsters still meet their end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Stalking, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, Grief, Rape, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Pregnancy

ltux's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

kly227's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was extremely fascinating in the beginning. The premise is promising but it does not follow all the way through. 
I found myself emotional many times during this book. It put me in a dark headspace going to bed each night, which was hard. I felt connected to the characters because the family set up is exactly like mine as a child- and I would have been Susie. I found myself empathizing so much for Susie and her family in the first half; I found this book to be a very real and very difficult demonstration of grief.
On the negative side… the characters were extremely flat and hardly had any purpose for the story. The development of the plot was strange- as I kept hoping it would go a certain way or that there was a reason I was learning something specific about a character, and it never came back. This was frustrating and made a lot of the random paragraphs of detail throughout the book literally pointless. 

The end of this book was really rocky. There was a paranormal, tricky sex scene that was basically sexual assault (but is glorified to be this amazing, transcendent experience between a 14 y/o and a 20 y/o) that made me extremely uncomfortable. It did not align with the rest of the story and it ruined some characters for me. Loose ends with characters were never tied up or dealt with in any shape or form. Characters were never held accountable for their mistakes and nothing was ever reprimanded.
Finally, maybe this is a personal thing, but I was not happy that the lovely bones were never found. That was my desire the entire time, and maybe it’s more realistic that we lose the body of the person forever but darn it! There are still so many questions. 

Going to watch the very low-rated movie now, wish me luck!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Blood, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence

tigerkind's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

people being human. loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Stalking, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, and Drug use

sarahsbookss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

kaylaannsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Graphic: Child death, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

espressoreader's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.0

Interesting take on how Heaven works.  Definitely a secular view on heaven.  The story was interesting.

Author like the sound of Len, Lindsey, and Lynn, quite a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pedophilia, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Alcohol, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Self harm and Stalking

alicia_m_andrews's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Murder, Rape, Child death, Death, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal death, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail