Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

29 reviews

lostpaperbacks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kaiyakaiyo's review

reflective sad slow-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

Very incredibly bad trauma porn with a side of halfbaked white womanly climate change opinions 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

avisreadsandreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Suicide, Dementia, and Abortion

sba2x's review

dark mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

rachelwierick's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

alinwonderland's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Blood, and Vomit

kdmusings's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Written in a style that I wouldn't normally continue to read after a few chapters, but I gave it a chance (and went outside my 'reading comfort zone'). I'm glad I did as it reflected on the climate crisis in a new style of writing that I am not accustomed too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

avac_'s review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book was maybe the most gut-wretching book I’ve ever read. Inti’s love for the wolves and her sister feels so personally and raw it takes your breath away. All of the characters are incredibly multidimensional and feel so real. The ending was somehow so unexpected yet entirely made sense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

keenanmaree's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

This book is very beautifully written, and there is really a lot to love in it. It is a a story about humanity and our complicated relationship with nature, each other, and ourselves. McConaghy does a wonderful job of depicting the frustration and rage that comes out of simple misunderstandings, and also out of the sense of helplessness when we are unable to either prevent or correct the evils inflicted on ourselves or our loved ones. 

My lowish rating is due to some purely subjective issues I had with the story. Although I saw the sexual assault coming almost from the beginning of the book, the actual scene was so alarming (I’m sure intentionally so…how could it be anything but horrifying?) that I had to step away from the book for a bit. I also didn’t love that the victim of such a violent assault was transformed into a violent murderer herself. It works narratively, but I think it sends a harmful message about sufferers of ptsd. I am also always a bit turned off by the story device of “hardened woman has a baby and it solves all of her problems and teaches her how to love again.”

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Infertility, and Suicide