Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

50 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Gore, Abandonment, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

yaoipaddle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

https://twitter.com/adju_ster

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racial slurs, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Child abuse, Self harm, Police brutality, Confinement, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Ableism

elliexreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book - it was fast-paced, tense, dramatic, upsetting, unsettling, poignant and really entertaining to read (in a dark, horrible way). As my parents pointed out, both Dana and Kevin, and the occupants of the 19th Century plantation,  accept the existence of time travel pretty quickly. Unbelievably quickly. But you know, there were more important things and I’m glad we just got on with the plot rather than agonising over the whys and wherefores. This is a science fiction and also a historical fiction, grappling with gender, race, sexuality and humanity. Really really good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Self harm, Pregnancy, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Racism, Torture, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Cursing, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

sas_lk's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I genuinely do not see any fault with this book.
Octavia E Butler managed to put on paper the intense complexity of our emotions, how easily we become complacent, how hatred and comfort can go hand in hand - and how things are always easier said than done. This is for people who state that "they would not have allowed this/felt that/done this/thought that if they were in these situations." 
Survival, emotions, relationships - life is not so simple. 

I was in awe everytime I picked up this novel. 
I see why people say she is one of the best writers to have existed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury

dee_hzz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual violence, Grief, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a book that I read as part of the 52 Book Challenge 2023. I had heard the name Octavia E. Butler before but had never bothered looking into it because I thought the name sounded like an airport novel writer or cozy-mystery-old-lady read..  I was so wrong. So silly of me. This book is a nuanced piece of science fiction that explores life and slavery in Antebellum USA, through the eyes of an interracial couple from 1976.

This is a tale of survival. Dana finds herself dislocated from her time and place and landing in the early 1800s in the middle of emergency. At first she saves a small boy from drowning, and then later she stops a fire. As she follows the pattern she realises that she has a connection to a young man who has very bad luck and who she continually has to save from his misadventures.

First hand, she finds out how Black and White people are divided in status and role, and how those divisions are brutally enforced. She hopes that by befriending this small child she may be able to stop him from developing into the same sort of man as his brutal, plantation-owner father.

In the same vein as Time Traveler's Wife (a book published 24 years after it)... hmm, ok I'm going there. *Incredible Tangent Person! go!* Time Traveler's Wife was interpreted for screen 6 years after its publication and Kindred, a book that also deals with slipping through time involuntarily, was adapted for screen 43 years after its publication in 1979. OK, one of those books was about a man who met the woman he eventually married when she was a child and who develops a relationship with her in chronologically asynchronous order, and the other was about a Black woman coming to understand her family's history, slavery and the brutality of oppression, by rescuing her White, several times great grandfather from death.. so I guess it's more about whether or not people want to discuss Grooming, or Inter-Racial marriage and the brutality of slavery... but why did we have to wait so long before that was a thing? 

Kindred is a thoroughly compelling read and I seriously raced through the book, not wanting to put it down. The relationships are rich and messy, and offer a convincing look at what happens when we care about people despite their faults. It is a story of survival, and through Dana we are allowed a glimpse of the real life, love, fear, and survival that was endured by those living and working plantations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Racism, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Classism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death

pinkhyxteria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Suicide, Sexism, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Blood and Alcoholism

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Physical abuse, Torture, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Self harm, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Blood, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

ewwniamh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Gore, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, and Chronic illness

danycatreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. Simply, wow. This is my second of Octavia Butler's novels. And I'm simply amazed and speechless. I loved the other novel, Parable of the Sower, and I was very glad she kept her prose direct and clear because the novel is complex enough with all the harrowing themes around slavery she touches upon. And she manages it magnificently.
I wonder, in the future, what will other generations think of us? What have we normalized that will be barbaric for them? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Racism, Blood, Slavery, Body horror, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence