Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

14 reviews

theliterarybrewer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Addiction

_inge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars 

This book had me hooked from the start. Alice felt incredibly real, and I had no issue envisioning her life from the first pages. I love especially how her husband is seen to try his hardest but doesn’t quite get ‘it’, which made their communication issues understandable - even though this is usually something that can really put me off in a novel. The way Alice’s mental health develops felt very real too, I’m not surprised the author consulted women with similar experiences on this as it did come across as natural. Initially she’s quite funny and seems a bit conflicted, but gradually she spirals further and further. Some segments reminded me of Mona Awad’s writing. I love magical realism, horror, and unreliable narrators, so this was perfect for me. 

The only downside to me is that the last quarter didn’t feel very necessary. The story seems to wrap up at one point, and I didn’t really need more of the plot to feel satisfied with the ending. I wouldn’t have minded an ambiguous ending, given the story as a whole could be interpreted in different ways as well. It would’ve been clear enough to feel like a fitting end. Instead, the last quarter increases the magical elements and wants to highlight generational trauma more. I actually felt less satisfied with this additional context than I would’ve felt if the book ended about 50 pages earlier. 

If you’re into some of the topics I’ve mentioned here, you’re surely going to enjoy reading this book. I’d like to read more from Native authors after reading this as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and Racism

Moderate: Self harm, Child death, and Gun violence

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Racism, Murder, Police brutality, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Genocide, Car accident, and Death of parent

fiaharringbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

This book was a life-changer for me. It was like Get Out but make it Indigenous Canadian, meets Everything Everywhere All at Once or Interstellar. The scope of imagination, creativity and originality in the way this story was told was gob-smacking. My favourite book of the year so far, absolutely bloody exquisite, I cannot recommend enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Body horror, Classism, Drug abuse, Genocide, Addiction, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gore, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

caitlinxreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, Body horror, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Addiction, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

baileyanabella's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

... just wow. I am going to be thinking about this book for a long, long time. My first completed title from the 2024 Women's prize longlist, and if the rest of them hold a candle to this one then we are in for a real treat.
Slight spoiler alert in the content warnings - but if you are sensitive to dark themes I recommend looking over them, there is a lot in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Addiction, Body horror, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Drug use, Child death, and Chronic illness

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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

5.0

And Then She Fell is a beautiful horror novel. Yes, beautiful. Elliott describes new motherhood, parental loss, indigenous identity, microaggressions, toxic marriage, and intergenerational hope. Each of these topics is blended to create an incredibly believable and complicated main character in Alice. I was simultaneously devastated and grateful for this book's ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Gaslighting, Addiction, Colonisation, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Grief

pomoevareads's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

And Then She Fell by Mohawk author Alicia Elliott is both simple and complex in its structure. It begins with a Mohawk woman (Alice) marrying a white man who studies indigenous culture, moves off the rez to a posh Toronto neighbourhood and has a baby. Alice struggles to connect to her daughter and descends into a psychosis where she believes others are out to take her daughter away from her. Then the story changes to one that takes place inside the time space web where each string is a different path and has a different outcome. The story becomes more difficult here as the characters mingle within the multiverse. Alice is guided to complete writing the Haudenosaunee Creation story which will affect future generations. Although future is also now, complex as you might see. 

For personal reasons, this book took me almost a week to finish reading and likely because of this I dropped parts of the thread now and then. Elliott writes in her acknowledgements that she has her own personal story of being disconnected. I felt the urge of the character of Alice within the prose as she battled against herself. 

I enjoyed reading the author’s matrilineal characters’ stories and how each woman was supported by the others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, and Alcohol

drownedinfictionx's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

L

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Alcohol, Medical content, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Gore, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

brit_is_reading's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

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

2.0

To be totally honest, I nearly DNF'd this more than once in the time it took me to read. But once I hit about 64%, I decided to see it all the way through.

 While I was interested in the themes that Alicia Elliott was exploring in the first half of the book, I found the back half to fully descend into madness (which, I understand, is part of the plot), but was largely difficult to follow and understand.

I don't think I'm unable to explore dense material, but it just came across like there were so many interesting ideas here, and just one or two couldn't be decided upon - so it had to be all of them.

The end in particular, while I found it to be sweet as an idea, felt wholly out of place in comparison to the rest of the novel.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably skip this one. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Blood, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Cannibalism