Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

13 reviews

beeasinbumble's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Death of parent, Racism, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Addiction, Medical content, and Dysphoria

elanilanella's review

challenging dark hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Classism, Bullying, Rape, Gaslighting, Addiction, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

sperigo's review

emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

God, this book was incredible. Brit Bennett is a fantastic writer. She writes gorgeous prose, and the most compelling, well developed characters. This books follows an ensemble cast of family members, each with lives radically different from each other, as they find themselves and then eventually grapple with whether or not they want to find one another. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel longer than 300 pages, yet I couldn’t put this one down.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, and Dementia

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Addiction

this_is_lee's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious slow-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

4.75

This was such A beautiful book. The story follows two intricate characters and the ways that their paths diverge, cross and meld. It is hard to read at times but it is incredibly worth it in the end. 
Very enlightening. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Addiction, and Classism

laurendenton's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Addiction, Dementia, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Stalking, and Cursing

erd's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Love how the story is organized into chunks diving deeper on specific characters and their pain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Death, Classism, Grief, and Rape

Minor: Drug abuse, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, Alcohol, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Pedophilia

None of content is over-the-top or overdone, all of it drives the story along.

rjstellar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Dysphoria, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Addiction, Death of parent, Dementia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Classism and Racism

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-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

I don’t know why, but when I first heard of this book, I thought I wouldn’t be interested. In reality, it is practically made for me: a mid-century historical fiction where the narrative changes perspective. That’s right up my alley. I loved the way this was written and the way the plot unfolded. My one complaint is that it felt like Desiree didn’t get as much development compared to other characters. Still, I truly loved this, and I would highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Excrement, and Slavery

Colorism, lynching

galexy_brain's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Pregnancy, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and War

katsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

"You could drown in two inches of water. Maybe grief was the same.”

“She hadn't realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.”

“The only difference between lying and acting was whether your audience was in on it, but it was all a performance just the same.”

“A body could be labeled but a person couldn’t, and the difference between the two depended on that muscle in your chest. That beloved organ, not sentient, not aware, not feeling, just pumping along, keeping you alive.”

I have so many feelings about this book. I don't know if I feel confident in articulating them. This book followed the lives of twins Desiree and Stella and their respective daughters, Jude and Kennedy. They are raised in the town of Mallard,  a town for light-skinned "colored" people. When they get older, they make choices that will influence the rest of their lives and that of their daughters. This story obviously had a ton of commentary on colorism and what it means to "pass." I was really glad I had the chance to buddy read this because it was helpful to chat through some of the heavy themes. I think the title of this book is really spot on because it can be applied to so many different pieces of the novel. Ultimately, it's a book about identity. What does it mean to be Black? White? Man? Woman? Daughter? Mother? Family? I fully understand why this book has received all the hype it has in the last year or two. It is a powerful narrative that definitely feels like it will become a classic that is analyzed in classrooms for a long time. I would recommend going into this novel a little blind. What I've written here is basically what I knew about it when I went in and I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience the story without any preconceived notions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery