Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Orchard by David Hopen

9 reviews

emilyacres's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Abortion, Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, Cancer, Suicide, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ebrood's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

The start draaaaaaagged for me, and I found that none of the women seemed like people instead of cardboard cutouts for the protagonist to project onto. That said, I really liked the third act and always want to read more Jewish stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Cancer

basementofbooks's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abortion

sm_moon's review

challenging dark sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Death

Moderate: Classism and Fire/Fire injury

begla's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

i reaaaally wanted to like this… but it did so much to really go nowhere. i really disliked the ending after the climax too. the concepts were so interesting and i feel like these morals are really hard to apply to fiction well, so i’ll give hopen a pat on the back for even attempting to do so, but so much of the non-philosophical plot was extremely flimsy.

also i thought that ari and evan were terrible foils for each other. their rivalry sucked and it was literally like the main point of the book?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse

erinsbookshelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident

thestarrfish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book. Wow the endless twists and turns were beautiful and terrifying to witness. As the characters delve into philosophical arguments and understandings, so does the reader. I don’t know how to describe this book without giving much away, but I’m very glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse

jessaboohoo's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Death

Minor: Abortion

sfbookgirl's review

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is a lot to unpack within The Orchard. I really enjoyed learning more about Jewish Orthodox traditions and the profound ideas expressed by David Hopen. Despite being Jewish, I had to look up a decent amount of terminology. I found this was a great opportunity to learn more about my religion and traditional practices. Some of the philosophical ideas went a bit over my head, and I personally found the book to be longer than I would have liked, but it’s quite an enriching and challenging read. 

 

The Orchard is about Ari Eden who lives an ultra-Orthodox life in Brooklyn. The summer before his senior year in high school, his family moves to Miami for his father’s job. There, Ari becomes friends with four boys who challenge Ari’s thoughts about life and provide him with new experiences that involve girls, drinking, and drugs. Finding himself in a new crowd, Ari grapples with understanding who he really is, and how his identity is shaped by those he surrounds himself with.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence