Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Saints of the Household by Ari Tison

10 reviews

midnightverde's review

emotional reflective slow-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

This book is so beautiful and tender. The story builds slowly and there are a lot of things to wonder about as you learn about Jay and Max. There is a realness to

the trauma and abuse

that I appreciated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal cruelty and Colonisation

psistillreadyou's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, and Colonisation

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Minor: Colonisation

carolinemwatson's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

This is a great debut, focusing on the voices of two brothers after a particularly violent incident with one of their classmates. Both of them are struggling with their abusive father and how that relates to what happened. The voices of both brothers are distinct enough, and I appreciated that this is a mix of poetry and short vignettes. It made the story flow nicely and really focused on the overall emotions between the two brothers.

There is also a great discussion about mental health throughout, especially as it relates to trauma. It's a story about healing, a story about moving on, and a story about finding your roots. Plus, the voice is one that we haven't often seen in YA lit. If you're looking for something that's a fairly quick read, but will definitely make you think, this one is for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Addiction

Minor: Racism, Suicide, and Alcoholism

ex_libris_volantes's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-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

While it took me a moment to connect with the storytelling POV of Jay, Max’s poetic interludes were packed with so much emotion and lyricism that I soon found myself quite invested in both brothers and the attempts to repair their broken familial bonds through hardship and confronting their own pain and fears. Job well done, and I’ll definitely be interested in future works by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

 Saints of the Household is a hard hitting story in which brothers Max and Jay have to wrestle with the impact of their father’s domestic violence, find ways to prevent themselves resorting to violence, and forge a path for their futures, one which might mean they are no longer as close as they once were. The author did a great job highlighting the reality of growing up amidst violence - the stress of trying to avoid triggering their father, feeling protective of and responsible for their mother, anger towards their father which was complicated by feelings of love and memories of better times, fear of following his example. I loved seeing glimpse of their Costa Rican Bribri culture which isn’t often seen in mainstream fiction. The way their grandfather used it to try and help Max and Jay heal their trauma, and their relationship was beautiful and instructive, just one of many ways in which culture and identity matters. The arts - painting for one brother, writing for the other - were crucial to both boys, something I appreciated. The writing was gorgeous, and I enjoyed the alternating perspectives. When Max and Jay were estranged it was helpful to know what each was thinking and feeling. The short vignette style chapters (Max’s were written in verse) made it a fast, propulsive read. Raw, powerful and beautiful. Highly recommended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Violence

pejms's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism

readingwithkaitlyn's review

emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal cruelty, Murder, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide

Poverty, divorce.

timothyotte's review

challenging emotional sad 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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Racism