Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

83 reviews

voidkisses's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

One of the most insane books you’ll ever read. Go in as blind as possible and stick to it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

magicant's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

booksnakekel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

brandoncottle's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It's a really good book, but I wouldn't recommend it since it is 1. an investment of time and 2. takes effort to not only read the words, but also figure out the order to read them in

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Occasionally there are really graphic or explicit scenes, but I'm squeamish and I was mostly fine

joshoonet's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

• The very core story of the Navidson Record is incredibly interesting and thrilling. I love the descriptions of their explorations and the uncertainty that comes with them.
• Zampanòs huge passages of discussing certain words and picking apart their meanings nearly made me stop reading, out of pure disconnection with the content. Even if it related to the core story. My god.
• Can only recommend checking out the appendixes as one goes along, they provide a more thorough understanding of the text. Although the same can't be said about the hints to other chapters. That got too confusing for me.
• LOVED the code that could be found and potentially deciphered here and there. I'm sure i missed some too.
• Overall: high concentration needed to read this, but worth it in the end. I'll keep thinking about it for a while, but won't be picking it up again anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Long, purely informative passages about the background and meaning of specific terms or topics can be skipped or skimmed. On the topic of sexual content and misogyny:

truant's stories are laden with viewing women only as sexual objects; these parts can be skipped without losing too much of the plot.

counterfeitnickel's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A fun ghost story with an occasionally annoying & juvenile framing narrative. Playfully engages with unreliable narrators; but this is often more  exasperating than interesting. Good read for October.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

ru_th's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Horror should have buried me. 
It didn’t. […]
Come morning I found the day as I have found every other day — without relief or explanation. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism

booksaregodly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I liked it! Sometimes I struggled with its rather intentional meandering structure but I appreciated the maze it was laying out and what it was meant to evoke from the reader. I also appreciated the ways in which the book itself felt like a metaphor for the psyche of its dual book within a book authors. I will say, the book is pretty damn misogynistic, so I struggled with that a bit. But overall, it was a fun ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

akiram's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

It's hard to put into words the rollercoaster of emotions this book made me go through. I loved and I despised at the same time, it was gut wrenching in a lot parts and heartwarming in others. Altought the text is at times difficult to read because of its structure, I think that it's worth the struggle. Would not recommend to everyone because it can be triggering at times and it's a massive book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol