Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

7 reviews

rzh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

hmm. weird. kinda spooky. very sparse in a dreamy, hippie-dippie sort of way. the book being so sparse directly leads to what makes it so interesting: whilst reading, i was desperately turning over every object in my head, working out if it was an analogy. like the tigers, for instance, or the things in the forgotten works: i wanted to imagine what they could be with the limited information i was given in the book. of course, they needn't be anything in particular. maybe brautigan himself had no idea. i guess its not important. but i liked this aspect of it: the mystery inherently makes your mind wander and creates (i presume) a different book for every reader and every reading.
i also liked that it was short. if it was any longer i think i would have grown impatient, but the length allows it to remain quaint and charming. 3 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

charlottefannon's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

jessiebertram's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Violence

nstew16's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

I felt like I was in a dream reading this. The writing was equal parts escapist and surreal. Brautigan's style is minimal and honest, repetitive and inviting.

Other books that In Watermelon Sugar reminded me of:
1. Le Petit Prince (fantastical/surreal elements like the talking tigers)
2. Cat's Cradle (writing style)
3. The Time Machine (iDeath)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content

burnyayhayley's review against another edition

challenging dark funny

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

2.0

Based on the reviews I have seen, this is a love-it-or-hate-it book, and I really wish I found there to be any morsel of genius so that I could love it, but yiiiikes this is incredibly bizarre and incoherent. 
The first half is boring as hell, and the second half is a tonal rollercoaster. Reading this book feels how I imagine it would feel to be the only sober person with a group of strangers that you are somehow in charge of keeping alive, who are all on psychedelics, and then right when you think they are going to fall asleep they all start to bad trip and scream. 
Honestly I just saved you the trouble of reading the book, but if that strikes your fancy, have at it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

christinereichard's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

1.5

The only takeaway I can dig up is a reflection on materialism & its influence on society. The novel went completely over my head even when I made every attempt to digest it. That being said, I respect Brautigan for writing somewhat of a postmodernist classic and if you already enjoy the genre it's probably worth a read. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody else.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

neptunereign's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content