Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

5 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

nikkiahaley's review against another edition

4.25

 Wow. I have never had an audiobook make me cry before. This book did it 3 times. The book we follow Joe and Norma in a story that comes down to grief and family. It is a geniunelly heartbreaking story that at numerous times i had to stop as I was crying.

The story overarching topic is one of family, grief, addiction, abuse, and neglect.

The first 40% ish I was actually really struggling to connect with the characters. I do find sometimes with dual timelines that is the case. But around the 40% mark there was a switch. There were times were I hated and loved almost every single character.

Joe is Mi’kmaq , when he and his siblings are young, his youngest sister Ruthie doesn't come home. We find out that Ruthie is actually Norma. Norma's "parents" saw her the day she walked off and took her. The entire plot is really a story about how Indigenous women are mistreated and abused (even if limited physical abuse actually happens in the story) in both Canada and the United States.

The way Norma's entire "family" truly believed that they had done nothing wrong killled me. I do not know how Aunt June said she was "protecting her family" but failed to protect a little girl. June kept saying how much her mother was "afraid to lose" Norma, but never acknowledged how much Ruthie's family had actually experienced because of Norma's "mother".

June should go to prison for kidnapping.

Also this book should never be marketed or assumed to be a thriller/mystery. It 100% is not. Who ever decided to market it as such needs to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

rsagarin's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

i think the pacing in this is a bit off, but this is a really good book overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism