Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

141 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Medical content, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Dementia, and Hate crime

Minor: Colonisation, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, and Rape

g slur, homelessness, poaching.

adas137's review against another edition

challenging sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

a very weird and senseless plot twist

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

rosyc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

This was amazing! I'm very late to the game and I wasn't so sure how I would like it since I find myself drifting away from YA, but the prose was beautiful and though there isn't a big plot, the story grabs you and it's hard to put the book down. Did not expect this to be so chilling. The repetition, though intentional, did get a little tiring toward the end but that didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of this book.

It also helps that I enjoy ghost stories like The Sixth Sense, which E. Lockhart mentions as an inspiration for this book

. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Sexism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Self harm, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Racism, Blood, and Dementia

bookishlittleme's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.25

The aesthetic and writing style of the novel are quite fitting and hauntingly beautiful. I also thought the concept of lying was really interesting because now having finished the book I''m left unsure of several narrative details. I know they were liars but which were the lies?! The reason I haven't rated this book higher is because the characters aren't lovable. The adults are all the yucky parts of American capitalism, elitism, privilege etc. (I'm aware that's the point). And the children don't give us anything to root for. The main romance in the novel

, between Cadence(Cady) and Gat,

comes too quickly and dwindles for the rest of the book. It becomes an awkward after thought rather than a place for romantic tension to build. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Animal death, Classism, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Racism

naddl0r's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Abandonment

chandeloo's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.25

rich white people having sadness

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment and Alcoholism

emjbarnes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Emotional abuse

lokes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, and Gaslighting

fabycamurugy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Dysphoria

katherinek's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This absolutely tore me into pieces. It was so beautifully written and I didn’t expect the ending at all. The characters felt so real. Some of the metaphors confused me, though, which took away some of the shock factor for the first plot twist for me because I found myself going back trying to figure out if it was real or not. The middle also slows down just a bit, but after the ending I realized why so many of the seemingly unimportant details in the middle were actually so important. This is one I would totally go back and reread to try and find all the clues I missed—

How they never went to dinner, they didn’t want Cady to jump off the rocks, the kids seeing ghosts, none of them receiving her gifts or responding to Cady’s emails, Aunt Carrie walking around at night, the lie about the donut shop, why Grandad kept calling her Mirren, etc etc.

I don’t think a book has ever made me cry as hard as this one did.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Dementia, Drug use, Alcohol, Racism, Death of parent, Classism, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts