Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

23 reviews

luckykosmos's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Suicide attempt

ladymab's review against another edition

dark tense

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

3.75

I really wanted to like this book but all the characters felt like stock items to be set dressing and none of them had any influence on the motivations or plot of Lena -- not even the siblings, at least not until halfway through the book. Lena hardly spoke to anyone and kept in an internal narration for most of it which made it very hard to get to know anyone. I get the unreliable narrator,

especially because she prefaces the story with "i killed this whole family" only for you to realize what specifically that means by the end

but at the same time it's also like i couldn't even understand her own motivations. lena wafted back and forth a lot on why she was doing what she was doing where sometimes she would make a choice and I'd be like "wait why are you acting like this". 

I felt like there were two different versions of this book that got chopped together to form this final version. Either one would have been good but together they didn't mesh well in a way that i could enjoy. I WANTED to like it, and once you finally start getting actual conversations with the siblings they're interesting (if shallow) characters. But otherwise it was a bit "shrugs shoulders". 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Alcohol

Medical abuse

zarap's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

What an amazing debut novel! Bravo Kit Mayquist, bravo! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The events that transpire are so well written that they're believable. Even the characters were believable! My favorite character was Jonathan, I just felt for him and he seemed the most real in this. I was so sucked into this book that I had to force myself to peel it away from my eyes! I was shocked by some of the twists in here and did NOT expect the last few bombshells!  I can kind of get how this is compared to The Great Gatsby in that it compares the filthy rich to the absolute poor.... it also had a slight mysterious ambience while still staying in the Psychological Thriller genre. 
I could go on and on about this book all night, I really could, but I don't want to give away the whole story!

Drug abuse, alcohol, suicide ideation and attempt are very heavy in this, so if that is a trigger, I'd advise you to skip this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Vomit, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abandonment

eviecate's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

Honestly it was incredibly mediocre.  Maybe it's just not my type of book but I found the plot very slow paced and repetitive. I didn't find the reveal to be particularly compelling and didn't enjoy the hindsight way it was written. I think I expected it to have more horror elements due to it being lumped in with books like Mexican Gothic but it was more of a dark mystery/high society read without horror involved. I think I understood what it was trying to say about the arrogance of the mega-rich but it didn't say anything new or particularly compelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Suicide attempt

allisunjo97's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

booksofdahlia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Death, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

Thanks to Dutton Books for the free copy of this book.

 - TRIPPING ARCADIA is quite the ride! Blending gothic horror with modern nightmares and a heavy dash of queerness, it's visceral and gripping at every turn.
- I found myself quite invested in the Verdeaus in an unexplainable way just as Lena was.
- Some of the plot machinations were a bit tidy and predictable, but I still quite enjoyed the trip. I'll be interested to see what Mayquist does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Death

rowthecanoe's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Drug use

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Gore

e_l_bee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

i found the first half of this book a little slow, but then i read the second half in two sittings. a brilliant plot with a lot of twists that i didn't see coming and very morally grey characters. a fun gothic poison book that had a lot to say about class. i think it could've used another round of edits though as i found the writing on the sentence/paragraph level to be a little repetitive in ways that could easily have been edited out. (though absolutely stellar use of metaphor and simile and some beautiful descriptions throughout) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail