Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

7 reviews

ifiwasapuppet's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Blood, Alcoholism, Drug use, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

jewelkr's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

3.5

There are decent writers who already write for a living and then get to publish books.  There are good writers who never get anything published.  This is a superficially easy to read but hard to process book.  The references to frequent wanking are necessarily desensitizing but uncomfortable - we should all be more open about it.  The steady spiral downward of a young woman is hard to take and not really that funny, although many of us have been there and it is relatable.  The rude awakening she goes through at the end is the part I liked, where I could finally see her as someone with feelings and not just impulses.  Of course it's well written because the author writes for a living, and it is a book that should be out there.  I just always wonder how many other good books are not out there, piled up in the corners of publishing houses who knee-jerk publish anything written by someone who is already known rather than put someone knew out in the community.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Classism, Sexism, Fatphobia, Self harm, Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

rapgamenancyreagan's review

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism

sommer22's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

3.75

Author is self-aware about the adult-minor relationships in the book. Some racially insensitive things are said as well. Those are my only two knocks on this book. The main character, Johanna, reminded me of myself a bit when I was a younger teen: confused, filled with wanderlust, and cringe. This is exactly the kind of book I needed at this point in my life as I'm getting over the identity-crisis hump of my high school years. It speaks greatly to the innate fluctuations of the human identity, and the impossibility of cynicism and staying in one niche for your entire life. Kids do be stupid, but society shouldn't shame them for it. That only engenders cynicism and disdain for others. They just want to have a sense of belonging, and as Moran points out, no one will be able to truly provide you your own identity but yourself. The greatest facet of self-love is the acceptance of change, which allows us to love and accept others when they change as well.

There's no way Johanna isn't a Leo, but she can't be, considering she's still 17 in October. Sagittarius?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Drug abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Racial slurs

This book is British, so it uses their slang term for cigarettes, which in the U.S. is an LGBT slur (the f-slur.) I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone with trauma with that term, since it's used quite a bit.

heini's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

1.0

Näin minusta tuli tyttö on musiikkiin ja populäärikulttuuriin kiedottu tarina identiteetistä ja seksistä. Päähenkilön identiteetti on vahvasti kiinni seksissä, ensin neitsyenä ja sitten "jumalattomana lutkana". 

Sisarussuhde oli mielenkiintoinen. Muu perhe oli myös hyvin kuvattu. En tiedä miksi kirja loppui samaan - negatiiviseen - asiaan millä se alkoikin, kun tarina tuntui muuten antavan kuvan siitä, että tulevaisuus on uutta ja suurta, itsenäistä. Johannan perhe-elämä ei ollut sellaista, se oli hyvin ikävää: mitä muuta se voi ollakaan silloin kun lapsi elättää perhettä vanhempien sijaan. Loppu antaa käsityksen, että Johannaa ei tule onnistamaan Lontoossa, että hän joutuu yhä olemaan vastuussa perheestään, itsekin ollessa vielä peruskoulunsa kesken jättänyt lapsi.

Ei ollut mitenkään syvällinen. Ei siitä oikein mitään saanut irti, muuta kuin että vaikka Caitlin Moran selventää alussa kirjan olevan fiktiota, on se täysin Caitlinin äänellä kirjoitettu, ainakin sen mukaan mitä Kiitoksista ja yhdestä haastattelun pätkästä luin. Niistä myös päättelin, että en pidä hänestä. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Self harm

Minor: Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

mediocreli's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book made me nostalgic for the world I dreamed of as escapism when I was a young teenager. Perhaps the nostalgia blinds me a bit to the flaws of the book, but it’s left me feeling hopeful for life as even in my early to mid twenties, I am still learning how to build a girl. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

ned_reading's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Self harm