Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Weyward by Emilia Hart

123 reviews

nicolenoodles's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

Just beautiful.  I could not put this down from the first page.  Other reviews note content warnings, which made me hesitant, but I did not find the inclusion of these themes to be in any way gratuitous.  A touch repetitive in their descriptions, but not enough to ruin the story.  The story held a delicate balance between hope and despair, death and life, and violence and healing, all with an undercurrent of family mystery and magic. At its heart, it’s a story of the power of women across the generations and into the future, and I wish I could read it for the first time again!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

gpfot's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

pansypantaloons's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

Very good and well written but big trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Incest, and Vomit

ghcstbats's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Abortion

Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and War

jenlengland's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Blood, Abortion, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Misogyny, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, War, and Classism

ltchalfant's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Car accident

allieryanreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Ultimately a story of resilience among three Weyward women of different eras.  This was good but also very sad throughout (and most of the men just were horrible).  So make sure you’re in the right frame of mind before reading!

I’ll definitely try the Sirens when it comes out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, and War

jasshicks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Read it as it was picked for a book club. But this book is gorgeous. I love the way the three point of views weave into each others lives, and how they are all overcoming similar things decades and centuries apart. I also loved Weyward Cottage becoming the unofficial fourth character in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Abortion

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Miscarriage

Minor: Alcoholism and War

hagwife's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

There are elements in this that I really enjoyed and elements I found difficult, not because of their content, but because I'm unsure of actual narrative payoff.

I like the interwoven narratives, how the histories of the individual women and the direct and indirect effects slowly unfold. I think Hart does a great job of choosing when to reveal certain pieces of information so that the reader has a chance to conjecture before the reveals. Overall, it's very tightly written!

I also like the themes of family, womanhood, and witchcraft, though that is hardly surprising given my reading history. A couple of highlights for me are the focus on witchcraft rather than magic – herbs, midwifing, and wise-woman-ing rather than big, mysteriously worked spells (of which there are a few). Even the Weyward's connection to birds, insects, and nature is uncanny without being mystical. I also like the pattern of secrecy and disconnection bringing misfortune throughout the timeline, the repeated bad decisions due to a broken lineage and history among the women. It speaks a lot to the power of family knowledge and connection among generations, about forms of knowledge. 

What I struggle with in Weyward is the cycle of abuse and trauma enacted upon the women. I think that the violence that happens to the Weyward women is violence that happens every day to women and that it is incredibly important to see those stories reflected in media, which Hart does, as far as I can tell, in an accurate and respectful fashion. However, while not gratuitous in any way, I'm not convinced by the end of the book that the cycle has truly been broken. The confrontation between Kate and Simon is powerful and extremely important for Kate; I love the realization of herself, of her powers, of all of her planning and conviction. But, there's nothing past that. There's nothing to cement the shift from generations of broken narratives into something new, which I would have liked to see. I understand that in the real world, these narratives for women do not get clean edges and well-plotted endings, but I think that it felt important for there to be a lasting, in the generational sense, triumph for Kate and her daughter. It didn't need to be big or ring insincere, but I do think it was needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

acasiamae's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Suicide attempt