Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

26 reviews

lettuce_read's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

emmasbookishself's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

A beautiful companion novel to The Break. 

There is an abundance of loss, inter generational trauma and pain but if you look closely this book is so full of love, hope and resilience. 

These characters make you feel right along with them, and you hope for them as they navigate their pains. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

allthereads_neverthetime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Violence

safsaf118's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

I've been trying to think about how I feel about this book and I'm just so conflicted. It's so, so depressing and draining -- at the beginning, the author mentions she tried to cram as much love and hope as she could but I really struggled to find it. Of course, this story is about intergenerational trauma and the long-lasting impacts of colonialism so I wasn't expecting a necessarily happy story but I really felt like there was not really any structure. There were so many characters and family relatives it was hard to keep track of names, the timelines jumped all over the place and there was a lot of missing information that I found out was revealed in The Break (the author's previous book, wish I had known that before reading but oh well). The thing about telling a story from multiple perspectives is that there are always some characters you end up liking more. I really did like how each of the perspectives had their own distinct voice and the palpable emotions we can feel in their words. I was so anxious the whole time and worried about what the characters would do, and some chapters ended up "cliffhangers" that aren't really revealed??? It's a heavy, exhausting read but after hundreds of pages of despair it ends up becoming quite numbing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual assault

soobooksalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Child death, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Abortion, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

naomibender's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Addiction

jacq_s's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Abortion

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Sexual assault

erinnz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-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? Yes

4.25

A beautiful text showing the depths of generational trauma and the sorrow that comes with it. A non-preachy, yet tearful and powerful, story of what’s it like to be systematically oppressed, in every possible way, for years and years, through generations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Mental illness, Racism, and Suicide attempt

alisonburnis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

The Strangers doesn’t hold back, laying bare trauma, substance use, abuse, assault, incarceration, foster care, and even more pain. Loosely connected to Vermette’s novel The Break, this is a companion, diving more into the life of Phoenix from the first book, and her family. 

Vermette is excellent at taking trauma and tragedy and making it a story of love and hope. The Strangers isn’t as tight as The Break, and it touches on the pandemic in a way that didn’t work for me (possibly because I’m not ready yet), but it is still a solid book, asking questions about trauma and evading simple judgment or providing answers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

biancadubois's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt