Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff

6 reviews

kberman20's review

challenging sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

not sure how I feel about this one. Felt like the child sexual assault was brushed over along with how serious his crimes were due to the focus being on Billy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

saramoser's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

<spoilers>A extremely troubling and tough read about sexual assault, statutory rape, child abuse and grooming. Told from the view of the accused rapists sister, who sustained abuse most of her childhood and into adulthood and had covered this traumatic upbringing with falsified stories that she had conjured in her mind-to protect herself and her family. This read takes you inside the mind of the victim, while looking at how a family can react when they have abusers and trauma deep rooted in the family, but are able to cover this up with money. A lot of reviews low stars simply because they don’t like the ending, the ending lacked justice. But in the world we live in, isn’t that often the case? <spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Classism, Infidelity, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Drug use, Cursing, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, and Rape

jennastopreading's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Incest, Emotional abuse, Rape, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

i don’t really know how to feel about this. some parts were super introspective and interesting and others were boring and kinda gross. some of the commentary felt like it was supporting the suspected rapist. it didn’t feel unbiased at some points. idk..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Rape

iamkallia's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Car accident

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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

Out now! [Thank you Libro.fm for my gifted ALC!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Cassie Quinn is a normal—albeit rich and privileged—graduate student. But when she receives the news that her younger brother Billy has been arrested for rape, everything she knows about herself, her family, and her life will soon be threatened.

Before I get into the book itself, I need to give a shoutout to the audio, which was truly an extraordinarily production and expertly narrated by Marin Ireland. If you’re going to read this one, I cannot recommend the audio highly enough!

On to the book itself—I was so conflicted about this book the entire time I was reading it, because the story is *very* difficult to read (please see CWs!) but in the end, I was captivated and found myself constantly wanting to read more and know what would happen, which is undeniably the mark of a good book. I don’t think this will be for everyone, but if it sounds appealing to you, I absolutely recommend checking it out. And if you do, please please DM me and let’s discuss.

Recommended, especially if you like: lifestyles of the rich and famous; literary fiction but make it a courtroom drama; complex characters.

CW: Sexual assault/rape; child sexual abuse; adult/minor relationship; sexism/misogyny/victim-blaming; toxic relationship; body shaming/emotional abuse; death of parent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Body shaming

Minor: Death of parent and Alcoholism