Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

5 reviews

clynns's review

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Child abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

kisseu's review

adventurous tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

literarybitch's review

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

0.5

I'm going to get into semi-spoilers because fuuuuuuuck this!

Okay this was written in 2002, and it shows, down to 9/11 being an actual plot point, but I thought that, and a few uhhh terms we tend not to use in 2023, would be it and that I could ignore those enough to have fun.

Reader, I would not have fun.

Oh, it starts out like it's going to be fun. Ah, the framing device of a prisoner telling their story to an increasingly incredulous interrogator (in this case, a psych doctor)! A secret organization so secret the recruitment process takes decades, and with such over-the-top overreaching power that it's frankly absurd! A narrator so unreliable you come all the way back around to believing them.

No no no no.
In the middle of this fun-looking meadow is a fucking land mine labeled the main character fucks minors. Literally a huge scene in the middle of the book is her being confronted with surveillance footage of herself in bed with the various teenage boys she kept unacceptable relationships with in exchange for supplying them with alcohol. Excuse me, what?! She gets called out for it, at least (the bar is through the fucking floor, last seen somewhere in the basement) but also gets let off the hook for it with no justification. Now at this point, there was basically no saving it: If the rest of the book wasn't about this issue, it's horrible because they've handwaved away CSA without giving it the gravity it deserves, but also if the rest of the book was about that, it would be a hell of a downer because I really wanted that scene to end asap. Either way, there was no more fun to be had.
After that, I couldn't give a single fuck about this character or what was happening. I kept reading solely because I wanted to see what this book had to say for itself, if it had any shame at all. I crossed the rest of that false Fun Meadow dragging my blown-up leg behind me just to find a brick wall where the author spray-painted "Some people are just like that! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
That's the morality here. That some people are born good and are therefore incorruptible and some people are born evil and so they just can't help themselves. It's not implied, it is actually stated. The implied part is that no one should ever need to take responsibility for their actions, I guess?????????
Indefensible. Untenable. Unforgivable.

There's also some mindfuckery about who's being tricked and who's a double agent or a triple agent or whatever and who's in a simulation inside a simulation inside a simulation but honestly I couldn't care by then.

I read this because, out of the 3 recommendation requests I've ever made on GoodReads, this was given in response to 2 of them. Surely, I thought, this would have to be great. I had asked for: 1) magical realism involving supernatural governments, unusual powers, or extraordinary people with mundane jobs, and 2) a fictional heist or other story that involves an elaborate setup & huge payoff. And I can see why both recommenders would fit this into each category. It's my fault really, because technically I didn't specify it had to be good.

1.5/10
#WhatsKenyaReading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Gaslighting

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Racism

mgrey15's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Ruff’s work is so inventive & imaginative. This novel is all over the place, in a good & engaging way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Addiction