Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

32 reviews

megafish's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.5

Definitely worth a read but for my tastes it was a little too slice-of-life. I enjoyed the character interactions and some of the character arcs were pretty satisfying to read through. It's not a very plot driven book overall so it drags on a little but it has some very beautiful quotes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Infidelity

Moderate: Miscarriage, Alcoholism, and Suicide

danajoy's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Eating disorder, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

lbevs's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Miscarriage

claudia_bow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Infertility, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Suicide

kayleyhyde's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Child death

yuna's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.0

This was a fail for me. Rampant ableism. I realize it was meant to be a searing critique on toxic beauty standards and sexism in Korea, but it felt like pandering Orientalism to a white, Western audience. It paints 50 million people with a pretty broad brush. I couldn't buy into the somewhat hopeful/optimistic outcome presented at the end because it didn't feel like the relationships were genuine or earned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

giulia_and_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This was definitely a book I could have read in a couple days, but I'm glad I took my time reading it because I noticed a lot more than if I had just flown through it. There is a lot to unpack in this book with all the symbolism and underlying themes. Cha should claim this as a huge literary accomplishment. Her writing in this novel is so impressive and the story leaves you thinking about a lot of social expectations and how they impact the individual. I also learned a lot about Korean culture, specifically in the beauty industry and what is expected of women.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially if you like reading books with a deeper meaning on cultural norms and how they leave a lasting impact on the individual both in the long term and short term.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Infertility

dianna_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, and Violence

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I liked the ending of this book, but overall it felt kind of unfocused. Very little actually happened, things that seemed important would be alluded to and then never brought up again, and one of the viewpoint characters felt unnecessary.

The writing was beautiful in many places and I think the author has some valuable things to say about female friendship and beauty culture in Korea, but I didn't enjoy the actual book as much as I could have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Trafficking, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape and Suicide