Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

56 reviews

kattila's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, and Sexual content

zophronia's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death

adyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Beautiful book, the imagery and magic of it all was stellar. I wanted to read it during a blizzard while listening to haunting classical music. It’s not 5 stars for me because the characters weren’t particularly compelling, and that’s what I value most in a book. 

But I don’t think this book was meant to have super deep character development. I think it was meant to sweep you off your feet with magic, to parallel the experience of visiting Le Cirques de Rêves. And it does that excellently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Addiction

tays_books's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Death of parent

eliasaurus's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I've been curious about it for years, but descriptions such as "whimsical" or "all vibes and no plot" put me off. I am here to report that those descriptions are completely accurate. It's not style over substance so much as a case where the style is the substance. 

Reading this was a slog from start to finish. The first 2/3 of the book is purely aesthetic, describing the magic (but not well... what actually are the rules of the system?), describing the characters (of which there are rather a lot), and describing the circus in addition to various other settings. Also, I'm aware I'm in the minority here, but I actually didn't care that much for the writing. Pretty, yes, but I felt the dreamlike style the author adopted sacrificed important details. 

Things start to pick up around the final quarter, but it's too little too late. As others have mentioned, the love story between the two main characters felt rushed and shoehorned in. The competition, too, was so vague it seemed almost comical because it could have entailed nearly anything, and it seemed like the author just filled parts in when she needed a constraint to move some other aspect along. I wasn't attached to the main characters at all, and I actively disliked Marco. I really only finished this because I read it for Storygraph's first official readalong. On my own, I wouldn't have bothered.

This book was not for me, and I won't be picking up anything else from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Suicide and Alcohol

latida94's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A great story that brings out the wistful in me so strongly. Very evocative in the settings of the circus and does a really good job of making the whole story feel rather dreamlike. Can't help but love and want the best for the characters (besides maybe 2 of them).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Suicide

vireogirl's review against another edition

challenging inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.75

A magical, mystical world. I suspect it would make more sense on the second read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide

thehobbitbarbie's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is a testament to the power of language in storytelling. Every moment I was reading, I felt like I was fully there, walking through the circus, experiencing the white and black powdered ground and caramel-scented air. It was enchanting and intoxicating and strangely distant. It was like being fed maraschino cherries dipped in dark chocolate by my secret lover while they whisper old stories, only to close the book, wake up, and realize it was a dream and that nothing was real except the confusion and disappointment and longing that lingered. 
It's almost impossible not to wax a little poetic about it because this is a highly poetic book, which is wild considering it's at least partially, basically about Disney adults. All that to say, it was a five-star read for me, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for what I can only describe as a luscious read.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Grief

adarose's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Addiction, Suicide, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

kcmg710's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Sexual content