Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Die sieben Tode der Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

53 reviews

carolinekiiing's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

It was free on Kindle, and that about sums up how I feel about the book. It started out super slow, and I understand the reason why, but the first 75 pages were still certainly a slog. I didn’t feel a particular closeness to any of the characters except for Evelyn, but that totally changed in the end. The Evelyn we came to know wasn’t all too important ironically, and most of the reveals surrounding her murder were either corny as hell or involving a totally irrelevant character just so that the author could say they trick me. The laws of the universe are clumsily explained through some Act III dialogue dump, which feels like the author forgot this was something they had to explain until way too late. Also- Insane fatphobia??? The only fully sympathetic character was just constantly assaulted by the author, as if his weight was some sort of moral failing despite the fact that he is disabled. Weird take, Stuart. 

I liked the gothic setting and an interesting twist on the Groundhog Day troupe, but it wasn’t enough to distract from the weird shit. It’s a kinda fun read when it’s not being annoying or weird, I guess.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Drug use, Misogyny, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

CW: this is a murder mystery-esque, so there are themes of violence, death and murder throughout the novel. Drug use, animal cruelty and torture are mentioned in short detail. There are very brief mentions of rape and sexual harassment through the lens of one character, but it is not central to the plot nor often repeated. Also, the fatphobia is actually worse than anything else, so strap on for that.

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

maryconney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Torture, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

joric's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Infidelity

s3ag0at's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

boondogglebooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

riverestyx's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Blood, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, and Abortion

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

This book has such a fun premise, the setting is fun, and it has some great twists throughout. The author does a good job of capturing the Agatha Christie vibe very well. 

However, this book has some issues. First, there are so many characters and all have small details that you need to remember. It gets very complicated and some of it feels redundant. The main character says his head feels full to bursting by the end and I agree.

Second, this book had some characters that just did not meet to be in there. I think we could have done with one or two less perspectives and had a tighter grip on the details as the reader. I often felt lost in the plot and then info dumped on. 

Lastly, the big plot reveal for Aidan.

You are telling me this man gets trapped in this hellscape, doesn’t remember who he is, then he learns this woman is a friend, but she betrays him for a reason we really don’t know, gets cool with that real quick, learns she murders his sister in some horrific way and still decides, yeah, I’ll go on the run with this woman?  At no point did I ever feel these two were connected that deeply so the ending felt forced. I get letting her escape but now having to run away and spend his life on the run for this woman is crazy. I get what the author was doing and that the two died to themselves but you gotta make me believe it a little bit more.

Overall, despite the issues it was a fun pool read that I will still recommend to people I know love Agatha. Not the best book I have ever read, but very fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

brittaanson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to love this book, and the beginning really sucked me in with the mystery. The structure is ambitious and intriguing, but by the end, I was confused and unsatisfied. Partly due to the nature of the plot, there wasn’t any deep character development, and as the truth of what was going on was revealed, I disliked the story more and more. The ending has so many twists that didn’t feel completely earned, and by that point I didn’t care about any of the characters. The rules, ethics, and motivations of those driving the story remain ill-defined to me. I didn’t enjoy the violence and aggressive fat phobia in the book. However, I will concede that the cleverness of the overall concept may be enough for someone else to find more satisfaction in this read than I did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Rape and Stalking