Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

32 reviews

mykes's review against another edition

2.0

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol

alomie's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I really enjoyed this whodunnit. I did not see the ending coming and it kept things interesting. 
Some of the "origin stories" were a bit harrowing, and it's not easy going in that respect, however, as we are trying to understand the motives of a serial killer it makes sense contextually. These messed up childhoods absolutely might create a serial killer. 
Kept me guessing right to the end and was actually quite gripping. 
Found this to be a slow start but really picked up in the third act and personally I could have done with a bit more pace, potentially this is an audio-book issue rather than a book issue. I liked it overall but I don't think I would go back to it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Warning Re the Dog

The dad kills the lovely dog, it's really horrid.

erinlaura's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol

marie_is_reading's review against another edition

4.25

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

jayisreading's review against another edition

1.0

dark mysterious fast-paced

---

Well, this was an infuriating read. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, other than knowing this book got a lot of hype for some reason, but it was definitely… not what it ended up being.

First of all, Michaelides should be crowned King of Red Herrings because holy fuck, does he love and overuse them. It was incredibly annoying, especially when they’re all set up the same way. I also felt that this made it obvious who the culprit was from the beginning. Second, and if I’m using the idiom correctly, his characters are cut from the same cloth. The overwhelming majority of them have parental issues of some kind. I hated the way he wrote women. They were treated like objects, sexually assaulted (in such a casual manner too), and they’re given little to no personality. This was even the case for the protagonist, Mariana, who I found unbelievably frustrating. And with her, I get that one would be bereft after the loss of their spouse, but Mariana had such an unhealthy obsession with her husband before his death that the way her grieving was written really rubbed me the wrong way. Third, I was not a fan of was the way Michaelides used trauma and mental instability as shock factors, which I would argue includes the twist at the end. There are so many ways to surprise the reader without further stigmatizing and/or belittling something so sensitive and personal.

In relation to all of the above is this weird… smugness, I want to say, about how intelligent Michaelides comes across with all the pseudo-psychoanalysis (conveniently done through the protagonist being a group therapist) and use of Greek mythology and tragedies as the driving force of the story. And, don’t get me wrong, I will hand it to Michaelides for taking the time to make careful connections between what was happening his story to the Greeks. Of course, this was all done through the “charming” Professor Fosca, who happens to be an expert on the topic. It all came off as trying too hard to impress, though, and it got tiring a few chapters in.

Initially, I thought maybe I should have read The Silent Patient to understand the hype, but I probably won’t considering how annoyed I was with The Maidens.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Stalking

Minor: Alcoholism

krdavis02's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment

sadiefc's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt

jaimeekate's review against another edition

1.0

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

This book was awful.
I could feel it's star rating slowly dipping lower and lower, and I was prepared to give it 2 stars right up until it's ending, which was so bad it mad me angry.
Probably the worst book I've read this year. Yikes.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual harassment

djoseph's review against another edition

3.5

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty

julianareynolds's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gore, Self harm, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder

Minor: Sexual assault