Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Matéria Escura by Blake Crouch

3 reviews

emmarosep's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

1.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The good:  I enjoyed the UberChat.  I felt that right when that was introduced a different ending could have spawned that turned into a lighthearted rom-com and I like to imagine that.

The bad:  I knew pretty early on that this was not going to be a favorite.  I don't read a lot of thrillers in general but I enjoy sci-fi so I figured I would give it a shot.  I couldn't stand the main character.  And thus, the book was doomed in my eyes.  The pacing was jumpy, and the plot was predictable (as in, I guessed what really happened in the first chapter and the main character didn't figure it out until the ~50% mark).  There was some promise for some thoughtful introspection but the approach was heavy-handed at best.  Some of the descriptions were vivid and others were flat out whacky.

I don't know if I will try another book by the author, but I don't think I was the intended audience for this work so who knows what the future holds.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic

now_booking's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This is my second book by this author and it was again mind-bending and confusing and yet absolutely wonderful. 

Even though I don’t read much sci-if, I was completely mind blown by this complex eminently human story of love and trying to find your way home when you are irrevocably lost. In this humanity, it was very similar to Recursion in being a sort of love story and an epic journey as much as it is about science.

The premise is that Jason is living a happy if somewhat “basic” and unspectacular life with his wife and son. While he and his artist wife, Daniela, might not have fulfilled the promise of spectacular careers in physics and art, having sacrificed that for building their family. They are more or less happy, until Jason is kidnapped and thrown into a multiverse and has to battle the dangers of infinite possibilities as well as all the different facets of himself to see if there’s any way to get the stars to align and find his way back home. 

For me, I adored every aspect of this. Jason as a character was compellingly human. Perhaps a bit too perfect, but a great, well-developed character to carry the story. The multiverse provides ample opportunity to challenge and stretch Jason and give us a sense of what he’s made of. And through that, we insert ourselves into the story and begin to think of what we would do and how we would react if we were in his shoes. This was sad, exciting, traumatic, adventurous, fun and I cannot recommend this enough.

If there are weaknesses, I think it’s in lots of loose ends. I also wondered how come Amanda’s place in the multiverse was never explored. Logistically-speaking, what are the implications for the characters in the way the book ends. It’s hard to explain what I mean without spoiling the book but I feel after the level of detail with which the sci-fi premise was put forth, the resolution was a little too abstract. That said, I did enjoy this and highly highly recommend even for non-sci-if fans. It’s absolutely brilliant. After I read Recursion, this was recommended to me a lot, and it has not disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Classism