Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Δάκρυα Ξυράφι by S.A. Cosby

173 reviews

axel_p's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It was a bit slow at the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Hate crime, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Child abuse, and Deadnaming

Minor: Abandonment

tenten's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

Razorblade Tears was a fun, fast-paced book about two Southern fathers, Ike and Buddy Lee, avenging the death of their sons, Isiah and Derek. The fathers, one Black and one white, are not only dealing with grief, but also regret for the strained relationships they had with their gay sons. this regret is the driving force in their quest for vengeance: they feel that they failed as fathers so they’re finally doing right by their sons by embarking on this mission. 

this novel was really absurd! like, these two middle aged men

took out a biker gang and two powerful political figures?

lol. okay. sure! i enjoyed this though–i didn’t pick up this book to be confronted with reality, and this provided exactly what i needed from it. the writing was good enough, though there were some sentences that i felt were really cliche. relatedly, Ike’s constant lecturing of Buddy Lee about racism sometimes felt out of place and a little, like…would anyone really say this in this situation? be forrea;. speaking of Ike, between the two protagonists, i think he experienced the most character growth especially in terms of being able to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, but i think part of that was because Buddy Lee was already more accepting to begin with. he obviously made his mistakes with his son, some huge ones, but on the whole seemed less….disgusted by queerness than Ike did. he’s ignorant in a way that is harmful at times, but generally is more easy-going and chill than Ike. and funnier. honestly, if you asked me before i started the book, i never would have guessed that i’d find the white dad more likable. he was just more fun!
everything really pops off in the last 100 or so pages. the identity of the person behind it all felt somewhat contrived to me, but the benefit of a more plot-oriented novel is that sometimes you can sacrifice realism for the sake of a good story. and this book certainly delivered on that front! there were parts when i got real life heated about the characters’ actions. that’s how you know a story is good, when it can get a real rise out of you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Murder, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Racial slurs

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Cancer, Transphobia, Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 Grab your tissues 😭

Content Warnings: Racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, gun violence, blood/gore, murder, hate crimes, racial slurs, grief, loss of a child, alcoholism, deadnaming, classism,

This book was an emotional journey as two homophobic fathers attempt to find out exactly what happened to their sons and avenge them.

The journey of them learning from their hateful history and opening their minds to accepting people for who they are, not who they love...well I'm an emotional mess now.

Beautifully written I'll definitely be checking out more of this authors work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, Hate crime, Child death, Addiction, and Classism

brittanyisbooked's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, and Homophobia

Moderate: Transphobia

power0911's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!! S. A. COSBY is an outstanding author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Gun violence, Biphobia, Trafficking, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Racism, Cursing, Gore, and Grief

jessreadreceipts's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Transphobia and Alcoholism

morybaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

This was a ride from start to finish. It covered a lot of heavy subjects and the characters learnt and unlearned things and my goodness it was beautiful to experience. I’m so glad I got to listen to the audiobook. One never stops being a parent. I hoped they were better parents to their sons and they were kinder to them, there’s no point crying over spilt milk. They became better and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. 
Buddy Lee is such a funny man, he and Ike were such a pleasure to read about, loved their growth. 
Oscar. 10 10 10 across the board. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Gun violence

naviajack's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The beginning of this book was frustrating. I strongly disliked the characters. I was going to give this book 2 starts but the second half redeemed it. The characters are selfish, thick headed, and cocky. The trauma they put everyone through around them is unnecessary only because of their hyper toxic masculinity. They cause so much more trouble than they are worth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Gun violence, and Racism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Alcoholism, and Racial slurs

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a very good book. It wa a wild ride and I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time. It was such a hard read. I thought I'd zip through it but it was so heavy and raw, I had to keep putting it down to grapple with my emotions. 

I really loved S. A. Cosby's writing. The imagery and the phrases used to evoke it often had me laughing so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, and Deadnaming