Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

61 reviews

perlastars's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Sexual assault, Racism, and Xenophobia

lacunaboo's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, and Sexual assault

jennadewit's review

dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Racism

Minor: Cancer

nibs's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I think I found out about this book from Rosianna Halse Rojas recommending it somewhere. I've had it on my tbr for a while, and finally got around to it.

This book was so good. Its separate but intertwined characters reminded me of Girl, Woman, Other and There, There. All of these connected stories and connected characters, going through their lives a bit at a time. The generational storytelling is a form of solidarity. I want to read this again immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Trafficking, and Terminal illness

lormurenzi's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Murder, and Sexual assault

hbc72's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Grief, Murder, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

jayisreading's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Nonlinear narratives can be incredible with the right kind of story, and Of Women and Salt would have benefited from having a linear one. It wasn’t particularly difficult to follow what was happening, but there was too drastic of a disconnect between chapters that made it hard for me to get immersed. It was harder to feel any emotional connection to what was happening or with the characters, and the few times I did, the moment disappeared too quickly as the story moved to something entirely different.

That said, Garcia captures ideas and emotions in such a lyrical way, from the tragic to the beautiful, and particularly the bittersweet. There were a lot of unique descriptions that helped bring together concepts often connected to geography in some manner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Rape

Minor: Cancer

ladymirtazapine's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, War, Rape, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, and Alcoholism

miaaa_lenaaa's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This was actually really good.
The complexity of the characters was intense, each had a quite realistic side of themselves that they weren’t sharing with the others but not in a frustrating way.
The writing was poetic but not unclear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and War

dramaqueentears's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Of Women and Salt tells the origin stories of six Cuban & Cuban-American women and a mother and daughter from El Salvador living undocumented in Miami. It begins with Maria Isabel, a cigar roller who lived through the fight for Cuban independence from Spain. Then, we learn about Dolores, the granddaughter of Maria Isabel, who survived an abusive relationship during the Cuban Revolution. It takes us to 2014, where we meet the daughter of Dolores, Carmen, and Carmen’s daughter, Jeanette, who now live in Miami. Jeanette has a rough relationship with Carmen because of previous trauma and her drug addiction. Carmen won’t tell Jeanette anything about why she left Cuba and her family behind, adding more aggravation to their dynamic. 

The story really becomes connected in 2014 when Jeanette takes in a little girl named Ana when the girl’s mother is detained by ICE. 

What I liked:
- The fact that the main plot point surrounding immigrant detention happens in 2014. We need more literature that holds President Obama accountable for his role in that. 
- All of the Cuban/Cuban-American characters were so unlikable but their chapters were so good. 

What I disliked:
- The book was so short that I didn’t feel very connected or even knowledgeable about the characters.
- Other than making a statement about ICE, there was really no reason to include a plot with two characters from El Salvador. They didn’t really add much to the story until the end and Gloria and Ana had no real personalities. 
- The chapters jumped around so frequently. Not a big deal for the chapters written in the 1950’s or the 1890’s, but I had to do a lot of mental math to determine what was going on with the more present-day characters because one chapter would be written in 2019 and the next in 2015.

Overall, I think it could have been better but it was alright! The idea was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Cancer, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Medical content, and Medical trauma