Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

12 reviews

wildcats_dba's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Setting. in CT; family tragedy with main character enduring incarceration while trying to hang on to family relationships 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

deckslammer's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, Murder

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder

sarahtingey's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol

dblue236's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Despite having some really heavy themes, I was absolutely loving this book throughout almost all of it. The writing is beautiful, which is a thing I've come to expect from Wally Lamb over the years. I was completely engaged in the story and spent a lot of it thinking about how I would handle living through knowing that I had caused the death of someone I loved. It wasn't an easy read, but I appreciated it for the emotions it invoked. 

And then the last chapter and the epilogue happened and I just... what? Why? What did any of that have to do with the story? I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed in an ending. That doesn't really devalue the good things about the rest of the book, but I'm going to be mad about this one for a while. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

sarah_lovesbooks's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Car accident, Alcohol

meghan_b's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol

Moderate: Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cancer, Genocide, Pregnancy

mrsgreenberg's review against another edition

3.0

emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

 The River is Waiting
by Wally Lamb
3 out of 5 stars

When Corbin causes a horrible tragedy that rips his family apart, he is sentenced to time in prison.

This book was decent, but at a certain point I got frustrated and just wanted to get it over with. I'm pretty sure every prison stereotype ever used was thrown into this book, and then there was more. I really think this was more of a political essay than a novel. There were some absolutely touching scenes that brought me close to tears, but the overall content of the book did not allow for those scenes to help me connect to the characters. I most liked and sympathized with the main character's wife.

The beginning of the book is written in a dual-timeline that can get a bit confusing. To be honest, I'm not sure the storyline from the past helped me any, other than to see that Corbin was a selfish jerk, even back in college. I think we were supposed to feel sorry for him, but the writing didn't quite get me there. Overall, I expected more from the hype I have seen regarding this book.

I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone, but if you are looking for a story that is supposed to pull at your heartstrings and make you question how you feel about topics involving the criminal justice system, this may be for you. Keep in mind, though, that the author has a definite point of view in mind.

Trigger warnings: drugs, alcohol, child death, child abuse, violence, animal abuse, sexual violence, racism 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol

amandaleaou's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Drug use

Minor: Rape

jocelynrose's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief

There are a lot of potential triggers in this book. It’s not a happy story & the topics are heavy.

dbanquer's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic