Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

19 reviews

pizzaguise's review

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

toniboni's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Classism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Trafficking, Animal death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Incest, Kidnapping, War, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

earthtomanda's review

adventurous dark funny

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. My first full-length Atwood novel, and I am amazed at just how many aspects of humanity she is able to capture. While the plot should seem fantastical, she stays firmly in the plausible and (perhaps) the likely. Many scenes are incredibly graphic though, so tread lightly if that’s a concern — Going through the content warnings, it was hard to find something that wasn’t at least mentioned in this book.

I did struggle with how prominent discussion of sexual abuse towards children was. It was incredibly disturbing. I am still grappling with why that was a necessary inclusion — though it is Atwood, and I’m sure it was not done without some thought. Also, Jimmy can fight me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, Misogyny, Blood, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, and Suicide

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

This book gives me a weird sense of nostalgia, I read it for the first time at 17/18 and it was my first foray into speculative fiction. 

I think it's the perfect combo of speculative fiction, interesting writing, characterization, intriguing plot, and weirdness.

The only bad thing about this book is that you can never get the first reading experience back once you know what happened to the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Child abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Infertility, Classism, Abandonment, Gore, Death, Cursing, Blood, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Child death, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, War, Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Infidelity

Child sexual abuse/ trafficking

vetrina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

What a great book! I absolutely loved the writing style and how Atwood switched between past and present timelines seamlessly. The world-building and plot is amazing, very dark, and shocking. It's a great critique of capitalism, eugenics/genetic engineering, technology, the pharmaceutical industry, classism, and climate change. And it's a great exploration of human nature in general too. Very excited to read the next book (The Year of the Flood).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Violence, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Classism, War, Genocide, and Alcoholism

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Maggie A youre such a slay
What an icon
This is quite fucked and and quite fucking wonderful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Murder, Rape, Grief, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Classism, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Trafficking, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body horror, and Abandonment

cait's review

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Ableism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Genocide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Body shaming, Confinement, Sexual content, Slavery, Gore, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, and Vomit

al3x1113's review

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

this book kept me at the edge of my seat, always anticipating the next big reveal of some detail that would lead the novel to its end. it was fascinating, and such an interesting story full of social commentary about society and technology

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Unsure how to feel on this one. Atwood is such a good writer that I was pulled into the narrative and the world she'd built despite my immediate dislike for the protagonist. There are some interesting themes with a lot of 'what ifs' but my god, this was so bleak and depressing. Glad I made it to the end to see a bit of hope but it was quite the trudge and not at all what I was expecting!

Very reminiscent of 1984 and A Clockwork Orange in terms of its violence, intensity and reflections on the darker side of humanity. Fans of these novels (I was not a fan of either one) will almost definitely enjoy Oryx and Crake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Cursing, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, War, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Child death, and Infidelity

thedinosaurkid's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Great book.
If you don't like exposition I would not reccomend this to you. Over half of the book is spent remembering the past, but in the context of the world and situation it makes sense. 
Jimmy/Snowman is a fairly accurate depiction of a dude and how a dudes mind works. Oryx and Crake are fleshed out very well and Snowman's memories are played out well. The most interesting part to me is the way that Oryx and Crake have been deity-ifed (not a word but you get my point) by Snowman and The Children of Crake. 
The symbolism is very interesting. 
The ending is ambiguous, on purpose, and gives very vague answers. It's of course frustrating to not have that satisfying ending that answers all your questions but that is the point of the book. The future remains uncertain.
Overall a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Rape, Mental illness, Excrement, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Alcohol, Gore, and Animal death