Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

40 reviews

atringas's review

dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This novel contains multitudes. Truly hard to describe, and honestly I’m struggling to quantify my feels about it myself. Beautiful in its imagery, brutal in its realism, touching, mystical, realistic, exciting, slow, there is a bit of everything going on in “Boy Swallows Universe”.
The book truly reads almost more like a number of smaller novels together as it chronicles the life of Eli Bell, and is mostly stronger for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny

Moderate: Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

camoo3032's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.75

Trent Dalton doesn't shy away from showing the darker bits of Australian society that we rarely get to see. Because this perspective is rarely shown, I would consider this book worth reading. I would warn fellow readers that this makes the book continuously confronting and it is certainly not a lighthearted read.
This provides the backdrop of a story that is far-fetched with descriptive writing that is quite abstract. I am sure there are people out there that would love this book but I found it was trying to be more profound than it actually is.
I also found that the female characters weren't as fully formed or complex as the male ones which is frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Violence, Sexism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, and Sexual assault

elsa_clare's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

everythingemily97's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, and Emotional abuse

emjrey's review

challenging dark hopeful tense medium-paced

4.0

I found this a curious mix of beautiful prose, with brutal and heartbreaking scenes, some of which are hard to stomach. I found the first third to a half a bit waffly and I didn't quite know where it was headed but the end and resolution was worth it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Torture

meganjeg's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read which makes it so interesting when the subject matter is around suburban poverty, drugs, abuse and neglect.

For better or worse, I primarily read to be entertained and uplifted and whilst this book is many things, it isn’t those two. So it did take me a few sittings over a number of months to read this book. 

I would recommend spending time with Eli Bell and his dysfunctional family. It’s a coming of age story that swaps out cliches for the realities of generational trauma. Plus, a cracking crime story. 

This book is grim but spectacular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

sneha_srikanth's review

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

“do your time before it does you” 🐦
Review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZyTZdvJZCY/

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, and Violence

booksforsarah's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

I had trouble with this books pacing. At times there was intense actions scenes where I couldn’t put the book down, and then other times there was literally pages of internal monologue that had me nodding off. I think if the pace was a bit more consistent I would have enjoyed the reading experience a lot more. 

I can definitely appreciate the good writing, it probably just isn’t the book for me and that’s okay. 

As an Australian though, I loved it. I loved seeing references to Australian slang and brands and places ect and seeing my home country so explicitly represented 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bridgie_didge's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders

ardour's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

praises the police!