Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

17 reviews

sheshallbenamed's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Infidelity, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Medical content, Suicide, Hate crime, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: War

scarlett4's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Cursing, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

emmapaigereads's review

dark emotional sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Chronic illness, Abandonment, and Alcohol

howwoolatthemoon's review against another edition

5.0

Ooooooof this book is so compelling and absolutely heartbreaking all at the same time. It's two timelines, popping back and forth, intertwined - the present, and Chicago in the 80s. Makkai figures out how to reveal things in the right order, despite the timeline changes, and make it all feel so natural. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody - except those who had to live through this particular time in history - it's about a friend group made up of mostly gay men living through the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. And by "had to live through this time," I don't mean those who were merely alive at the time it happened. I mean those who were IN it, and anyone who has lived as gay man in the years since. It's beyond tragic how many lives were lost, and how many ways these men were made to feel like garbage. I lived in this time, as a child, in the 80s. I vaguely knew some about AIDS at the time. This book hooked me from the start with great storytelling, and really opened my eyes to the details of day to day life and death (although that's not the only topic it covers).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Self harm, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcohol

gracek67's review

challenging emotional hopeful sad 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

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

brynngaybee's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad 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

5.0

The prose in this novel is very simple and practical and that makes it punch all the harder for me. I did not struggle to get through it at any point and was interested in the plot and characters at every point. I flet that Yale and his friends were well fleshed out characters that I could connect to. The best review I have is that it made me cry and I'll probably think about it often.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, and Excrement

charvermont's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Pregnancy, Vomit, Violence, Police brutality, and Homophobia