Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

154 reviews

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“How many times can someone bend before they break forever? You have to take care, dealing with broken things; sometimes they give way, and break others in their turn.”

Now I understand why so many people told me to go into this book blind. 

I was unprepared for the journey this book took me on, yet in hindsight, it all seems so obvious now. There was a moment in which I  twigged to the core of this book and the story it was telling but in a way that merely scratched the surface. A moment when I thought that this storyline was hurtling towards cliche at breakneck speed. Only for the story to expand itself into the bigger picture - slotting everything into place. Like a Russian doll. Each part perfectly fitting inside the next. 

My biggest qualm with this book is the end to Dee’s storyline. Which I personally didn’t stand up to the rest of the story. 

This is the kind of book to go into as blind as possible (however, checking content warnings is highly recommended). This book uses unreliable narrators to their best ability, luring you into false conclusions and switching up at the final second. And other than that, there is not much more I can say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Child death, Torture, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

apollo0325's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Just finished but going to come back to this review and maybe adjust star ratings (currently a 3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Medical content

There are a lot of potentially triggering material

including the description of a hanging (suicide), injury/burn descriptions, child abuse, starvation, death, death of a child (dead child's body described), and as a MAJOR PLOT POINT, dissociative identity disorder (I do not have DID so I cannot speak to the authenticity of it - the author's afterword describes her research on DID).

If you're afraid of snakes, one of the narrators has a severe fear of snakes and will constantly describe snakes.

runefactories's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Hate crime and Homophobia

mcnewm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, and Suicide

theublein's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

This book was super confusing and chaotic to follow until the end when everything was tied up very neatly. I typically can see twists of a mystery coming but this story had me guessing till the very end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

manda2512's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Child death, Murder, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

simp4sneks's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide

pvp_niki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Blood, Child death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia and Body shaming

thewordapothecary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A rollercoaster for sure. There were multiple times I swore I had it all figured out. And I guess in a way I did, but not fully. There are so many ups and downs with the characters, you love them and think they’re good and then the next you hate them and think they’re the bad guy.

Not a challenging read, but you do have to get used to how Ted speaks. Once you do though, it’s a very fast read. 

Really dark, but so good and I can tell it was well researched. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Physical abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Violence

lazydazey's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, and Animal death

Minor: Animal cruelty