Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

18 reviews

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A thought provoking story that depicts why sexual assault cases next see the light of a court room. The process is time consuming, lawyers can brutal, and it may do more harm than good. 

Megan Goldin is an auto-buy author. The first book I read by her was Stay Awake. She does an amazing job at character building and touching on subjects matters like sexual assaults or mental health conditions. These topics are normalized in Megan’s stories. I found myself both times rooting for the main characters, and the side characters, wishing them all a happy and successful outcome.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel, and I hope our main character Rachel continues to fight the good fight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Stalking, and Gun violence

zianna_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Mental illness, Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Details:
Narrated by Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, Samantha Desz
Unabridged 

One of my late netgalley arcs, I decided to listen to via my library app.

This was riveting and harrowing read following a dual sexual assault case, one in the present day and one set in the mystery of a cover up that happened some years before. 

We follow a podcast presenter investigating both cases and it was interesting to see the perspective of varying characters of what, to me, is an obviously awful crime.

The acts done to the body was so graphic and really hard to read, so please bear that in mind.

Overall, I'm glad to have finally read this, but it was a heavy, difficult read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Car accident, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Cancer, Grief, Blood, Car accident, and Suicidal thoughts

horizonous's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, and Self harm

◦ Alcohol = Underage drinking
◦ Death = Sibling
◦ Mental illness = Depression, PTSD

julienicole1106's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Torture

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this novel! I decided to listen to this as an audiobook since a big plot point of this novel is that one of the main POVs has a podcast. I think listening to this book really added an additional layer of enjoyment. I will caution anyone that wants to read this book that it was very hard to read at times because of the graphic depiction of sensitive topics such as: rape, murder, blackmail, alcohol use, and toxic friendships. 
This novel follows two different woman. The first is in town because she hosts a podcast and has decided to cover a rape trial as it is happening. The second woman is trying to seek justice for her sister's murder from many years ago, and she is seeking the podcaster's help to uncover the truth. I felt like this book did a great job highlighting the hardships of being a victim, especially when people do not believe what happened to you. I also really enjoyed the mystery in this book. I felt like it was very believable and I was very satisfied with the ultimate ending of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

missblissreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

sara824's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Stalking, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Body shaming

Minor: Mental illness

becksreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was engaging, well-paced, and had a solid mystery. But, as someone working in journalism, there were several things that were very illogical from the journalist lead character, and I don’t think the trial was as realistic as it could have been. It got to the point where it was a disservice to how real trials are, portraying more of a TV version. It missed the mark for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Sexism