Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

10 reviews

pacifickat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is exactly the sort of thing I would love: a series of loosely interconnected short stories that serve as vignettes of people's lives surroinding a central world-altering event. I will write a more thorough reveiw later, but for now suffice it to say that I loved this book, its style, its many distinct voices, and the audiobook narration was perfection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

Euthanasia

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

like any short story collection, some were absolutely hits and others were misses. i wish i could’ve given this 5 stars based on some of the stories but others unfortunately brought it down. none of them were bad but some were just boring or lackluster. that was definitely a small amount of the stories though, most were very very good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Grief, Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

yogomagpie's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I loved the first story, but after reading a few more stories I began to feel very fatigued. I grew bored reading so many similar stories over and over again and became desensitized to all the deaths and grieving. But maybe getting desensitized is the point. Anyway, my fav chapter is the one with the pig. It was so messed up and sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

arlaubscher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Body horror, Medical content, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Dementia, Confinement, Mental illness, Gore, and Infertility

staysunny's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cancer, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity and Alcohol

emmonsannae's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad fast-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? Yes

3.75

Not sure whether to give this book a 2 or a 5—it’s brilliant and I largely did not enjoy it. The main theme (and the one from which the novel gets its name) is the lengths to which humans are able to stretch to form community and help each other, and the ways all living things are interrelated over time and space. The main subject matter is inherently distressing, though, resulting in a beautiful book that is phenomenally executed and which I hope I never have to read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Abandonment, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

shapesandcolours's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Alcohol, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

colie923's review against another edition

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Child death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Xenophobia, Racism, and Medical trauma

brynhayes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Confinement, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

daisylady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Animal death, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism