Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Les Apparences by Gillian Flynn

69 reviews

sjanke2's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Body horror, Pregnancy, Self harm, Blood, Alcohol, Confinement, Kidnapping, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

ayearinbookswithzoe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

I really liked this book but I hated the main characters. I wanted Nick and Amy to have horrible things happen to them and while they did, it wasn’t enough for me. I enjoyed having both Nick and Amy’s perspectives, it definitely helped develop the story far more than if it had just been one. Honestly, everything was pretty unexpected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Moderate: Self harm, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Stalking, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

taleofabibliophile'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Dementia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Racial slurs

dariana12's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.0

Easy to read, part 1 was a little slow but it’s worth it to keep reading till the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cursing and Infertility

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Rape

marybsimp's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

nabila99's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

as someone who adores david fincher's film adaptation of this book, and watched the film first, reading it was actually quite revelatory. because of the nature of film and TV, it's not always possible to show a character's introspection and inner world the way it is in a book - and gone girl the novel felt very introspective compared to gone girl the film.

i especially enjoyed how much more of amy we get in the book, even if

it is just Diary Amy, and i genuinely found her pov very poignant, despite my knowledge of how the story would go

. it was also very enlightening to see nick's 

misogyny, how he battles against it throughout the whole book but is still a shitty man in many ways, how parental attitudes and bigotries are passed down

.

while i did find that the book dragged a bit at times (especially in nick's chapters), and the ending was a bit abrupt and ambiguous, i flew through the story and was always engaged. what a ride!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Dementia, Drug use, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Medical content, Abortion, and Kidnapping

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Cursing, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, and Violence

apologygirl's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

she just like me fr

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Stalking

Minor: Torture and Vomit

optimisms's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

This book is hard to review. There's a lot of competing factors in my mind when it comes to how I feel about this book. First, I watched the movie before reading the book; it was actually the reason I read the book, and I think it's such a fantastic adaptation that I would rather rewatch the movie than reread the book. Second, even if I hadn't watched the movie, I've watched enough Youtube video essays on feminism in film to know the big twist, so there was very little shock factor for me. And third, while I think this book was written extremely well, I don't really...love it. I can't put my finger on why – there was nothing that jumped out as being completely contrary to my tastes. It's an undeniable page turner, and even knowing what would happen, I read 95% of it in one day. I think the writing is phenomenal, and it feels like we're reading the inner thoughts of two distinct but intelligent writers. The characters are detestable but they are both so unique and complex to remain interesting no matter how much they disgust you. The pacing is a bit slow but everything feels deliberate, every new bit of information or small twist coming exactly when it was needed. Even though I knew the twist, I still felt the tension building and wanted to keep reading to see how it all fell apart, and I imagine that if I didn't know what was coming, I would've been completely torn about what to believe and expect. It was truly a great book! But I can't bring myself to rate it higher than 4 stars because there's just something about it that didn't completely do it for me. (I still plan to read more Gillian Flynn, though, because wow, can she write!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Body horror

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Cancer, Sexual violence, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Incest, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Dementia, and Stalking

samflowerv6's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

A masterpiece

“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.

Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)” 

“There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.” 

“Tampon commercial, detergent commercial, maxi pad commercial, windex commercial - you'd think all women do is clean and bleed.” 

“It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Blood, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Stalking, and Miscarriage