Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

99 reviews

ivulikkivulik's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

This reminds me so much about a fanfic I wrote once. It got very ridiculous at times 

and I am still confused what Fereshteh did wrong and why so many characters had something together. Her "obsession" with the band did not seem as bad as everyone was making it out to be. The whole plot from the concert onwards was very meh.

I wanted to add this after reading some reviews: Yes, maybe when Fereshteh thinks about how much she loves the band, that is showing some flaws but still, that is her internal monologue and I have not really seen anything like that in her interactions with other people.

However, I love how Oseman writes diverse characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Transphobia

georgiamaynard's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Outing, and Stalking

Minor: Transphobia

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

I loved that the story included sexual orientations and choices. I loved that it showed mental health issues. I loved how flawed the characters were. I loved that the boys stayed true to their music. The only thing I didn't like about this was the unfortunate meetings (like how Angel and Jimmy met or how badly Rowan treated Angel). Also, Marco was so weird. ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

bumblemee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Transphobia and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Outing

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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: Addiction, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Self harm, Death, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Grief

egils's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.75

Alice Oseman has my heart, eyes, and ears for any story she wishes to tell.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Transphobia

mandaraffe's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Addiction

Minor: Toxic relationship and Abandonment

asmodeous's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism, Transphobia, and Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Medical content, and Outing

withlivjones's review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted fast-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 love Alice Oseman’s writing. The narration feels so natural and real, and while people might call it cringey I think it’s just so true to young people’s trains of thought. They rarely have everything together - especially in the case of the characters in this novel - and the narration reflects that really well. There are also a lot of little tidbits that are so relatable, like in the case of Jimmy’s anxiety and Angel’s lack of direction. All the characters are well fleshed out in a way that you both criticise their mistakes and end up sympathising with them anyway. And while I can’t comment on the accuracy of the representation in the novel, it feels really refreshing after the other books I’ve read by Oseman having primarily white cisgender casts. 

If you’re looking for a book with realistic events this probably isn’t for you, as the plot is pretty fantastical and at points reads like fanfiction. But as someone who reads and enjoys a lot of fanfiction, I’m 100% here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Outing

chaoticbyrddemon's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

It's overall a really good book. 
I enjoyed both of the character perspectives, both from Angel and Jimmy. 
Angel's character was a bit nice. At first, it reminded me of the book "Kill the Boy Band" which has a similar concept, but it was executed rather poorly and to an extreme level. Angel's character was really well written, and I enjoyed the research that Alice Oseman put into making sure that her character was accurate.

Angel having a safe space and really only bonding in fandom culture definitely hit close to home and I really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the story.

Jimmy's character was definitely a lot, and I really enjoyed it. Seeing how he and the rest of the band had to deal with everything and such was really interesting. Each of the members has their own ways of coping with things, and I think learning and reading about that were really nice. 
My favorite character was Lister, who seems to fall into a trope that I enjoy.

Star who is oversexualized and relying on addiction.

Definitely not a super common one. But the way he was written was really interesting.

Upon first glance when you first meet him, he seems like a completely different character. However as the story goes on, not only his problems but the problems of the band are revealed and we learn more about them and how they deal with things.

It's definitely a book I'd read again, having lots of surprising twists and such, some of which make me super happy and others worried. It's a book that I think I'd want to annotate in the future and I'd highly recommend it. 
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CW: mentions of religion, drug use, blackmail, stalking, antisemitic stereotypes (in mention), blood, violence, addiction, eating disorders (mentioned), suicidal thoughts, family struggles, break ups, near death, hospitals, biphobia (mentioned), transphobia (mentioned), 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Biphobia