Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

33 reviews

hanz's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

emilyseebold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Grief, Drug use, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, and Sexual content

katewhite77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A Book About Venture Capitalism And Gorilla Gardening.

The two don't usually meet, here they do, but is it such a good idea?

Set in New Zealand, a mutilationaire is secretary for minerals under a national park and on adjacent private land owned by the wife of a second billionaire. When the novel opens, the mining has already caused a landslide. 

Then, one day, the secret miner notices someone planning seeds without permission. From there, an environmental thriller unfolds tĥat riffs off Mcbeth.

None of the characters in this are particularly likeable, which makes for a strangely beguiling read as you find yourself routing for them none the less. I think this is a sign of very good writing. 

I don't think this will trouble my top books of the year list, but I am glad I read and enjoyed reading it while it lasted 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, and Gaslighting

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Cultural appropriation

Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

kfergy's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective 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

5.0

An enjoyable read, very thought provoking! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Car accident

Minor: Drug use

babonkadonkas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

OMG

i was kind of annoyed when sir owen was killed bc i feel like i've read a million murder cover ups, but this was SO well done, amazing ending, absolutely gut wrenching, hated all the characters tbh i feel like you meet every one of these ppl on the left lmao. also robert lemoine is elon musk

such an enjoyable read, i need to go read everything else eleanor has written ok bye

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Vomit, Grief, Gun violence, and Misogyny

angryluna's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Vomit

Minor: Drug use and Gore

martinatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

Really really compelling entanglement of modern characters, motivations, and politics. It felt like such a treat to witness this kind of smooth yet complex storytelling. As someone who recently visited NZ, it was really cool to see Southland as this seemingly mundane setting for a sinister and tragic unraveling of lives. I really enjoyed the descriptions of characters’ changing relationships and perceptions of one another as the plot evolved. I can see why this is being called Shakespearean in the use of dramatic irony, which really got me worked up!! Damn good story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Animal death, Medical content, Car accident, Sexual content, Cursing, Blood, and Stalking

Ecothriller, surveillance, late stage capitalism

teaganme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.75

A bit heavy, but mostly in all the right ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Car accident, Gaslighting, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, and Animal death

nreyno's review against another edition

adventurous informative 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Death, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail