Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

75 reviews

ozdensl's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcoholism, Murder, and Death

relf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It's 1975 in a small town outside of Belfast. Cushla is a young teacher at a Catholic school who helps out in her family's bar and lives with her alcoholic mother. Between pursuing a love affair with a married Protestant lawyer and befriending an outcast among her young students, Cushla is drawn across complex social, sectarian, and political lines and into the thick of The Troubles. To me, this is just about a perfect novel, with beautifully observed detail of daily life, emotional depth, and a tense, compelling narrative. Loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Police brutality and Injury/Injury detail

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

 god this almost book slumped me
i just found the actual plot so bland and annoying

('gonna have an affair with a 50+ year old married man when im 24 and he knew me as a child :D' *meets his wife* 'omg he has a wife what a fucking bastard' like, girl...)

yeah there was just so much of them and i didnt care about either of them tbh
i also found the lack of quotation marks very jarring because of how she writes, it was just sometimes so unclear whether something was being said aloud
the narrative was also quite frustrating and hard to follow, there would be intense details about specific things and then the next line would be a completely different time in a different place, or theyd be downstairs and then yay we're upstairs, how babe? what? it just felt very disjointed to me
just frustrated me more cause there were bits of the writing that i did like or found interesting but none of them were plot related tbh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Vomit, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

alrightcalv's review against another edition

emotional informative 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? No

1.5

I didn't really connect with this book, and only liked the character Davy. I'm unsure why writers choose to exclude quotation marks, but it negatively affects my reading experience. I found myself getting lost, and there were so many character names I kept forgetting who was who.

I'm not sad I read it, but meh.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Gun violence

okapipo's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Addiction

Moderate: Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Bullying

michaelsbirthday's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Terminal illness

jennaz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book, though it took me a while to finish for some reason (I would read a good bit at once then put it down for a month). I love the writing style. 

The suddenness of Michael Agnew’s death caught me off guard, though there were hints that he was in some kind of danger, it was simply a single sentence about it happening. Wasn’t as dramatic (like having Cushla find him or something) than I would’ve imagined.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

annieca's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

Kennedy's writing is gorgeous - so evocative and really paints the grim scene of 1970s Belfast. That being said, I didn't care about Cushla or her relationship with Michael. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Infidelity

Minor: Miscarriage

jacquelyneagleson's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

What’s happening in the background of this novel (the Irish troubles in 1970s) are horrifying but serve as white noise to our MC who is 24 and falls for a married man twice her age. The first 3/4 of the book are slow and meandering, a well-written account of a young girl grappling with an affair, an alcoholic mother, and being a teacher to young children during a tumultuous time in Ireland. The last 1/4 picks up the pace and becomes much more plot-driven. A great debut novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

emotionalsupportblonde's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

A reflection on love and loss in a time of great turmoil, Trespasses left me feeling emotionally spent in a delicious and painful way. To reflect on the decisions we've made  – the power of a coincidence, a single moment in time – and to wonder what if, what if, what if...Trespasses captures the energy of a disjointed remembrance of a woman who lived and loved throughout one of modern times' greatest (and oft-forgotten) tragedies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Death, Violence, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Police brutality