Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

29 reviews

ed_w's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.25

Lovely, quick read. Really enjoyed the characters, zest, and human-ness. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Terminal illness, Death, Chronic illness, Car accident, Suicide, and Infidelity

Minor: Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Drug use

caseythereader's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Alcohol, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content

haleiyoung's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.25

This was an amazing book! The characters made me feel all kinds of emotions and the setting was so charming. AJ starts out as a brash man, but evolves into a softer version of his opinionated, unsentimental self. There are complicated relationships, second chance love stories in the background and a twist you may or may not see coming. 
Some characters are irredeemable, which this book definitely has in my opinion, but there are characters who make huge mistakes and you can't help but feel for their situation, which this book also has (and just to make it clear, those who are irredeemable are not those I feel for because

screw cheating bastards).
My one critique would be about the number of parentheses and information dumping the author chose to keep in during the first few chapters. As the book progressed the words came much smoother, but in the beginning I felt like I was being bogged with a bunch of need to know information but presented in an ineloquent fashion.

Now here's a part with a spoiler

But I love the adoption trope in this book. Although I HATE when books or movies portray someone dumping their child onto an unwilling party, the way AJ accepts Maya into his home and loves her like he would his own daughter, and then Amelia doing the same when they get married is beautiful. I was adopted, and seeing it portrayed in such a way that sees AJ being seen as the legitimate dad and Amelia as the legitimate mom and not just the "adoptive parents" makes me heart so happy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Suicide, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Cancer

Minor: Racism and Car accident

Nothing is explained in explicit detail. There is some insinuation to sex, but nothing descriptive. Racism- there is a brief insensitive remark made to the main character and family Miscarriage and infertility- nothing explicit, but talk around it is fairly un-emotive and swept aside toxic relationship- not the main character's relationship, but his sister-in-laws Car accident- nothing graphic, but results in death

bociti's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book soo much. I can't enough words to describe this lovely story about a bookworm man 🥲 I'll be reread it as much as I can until the pages fade 🥹

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

kaylaboevers'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Death, Cancer, and Abandonment

Moderate: Car accident and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility

blewballoon's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad 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

This was a really good story, definitely one of those types of books that is written for people who love being around books. There were a lot more plots and characters than I expected, and I think they all were given just enough time, but maybe could have had more? I wasn't as emotionally impacted by the emotional parts, but based on the tone of the book I'm not sure I was really supposed to be. The book felt more about the general ups, downs, and surprises of life in a way that I don't think was meant to be super heavy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Car accident, Miscarriage, Suicide, Infidelity, and Death

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Vomit, Racism, and Death of parent

bakergirlsbooks1999's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was powerful. I loved the story and while it may have took me some time to get into at first I quickly was able to make my way through it absorbed by the story of the bookstore owner A. J. Fikry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Abandonment, Vomit, Car accident, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

katierobertsonshaddix's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-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: Death of parent, Car accident, Infertility, Medical content, Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Dementia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Suicide, Self harm, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

polkadots_pints's review

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.25

This book definitely kept me engaged - I finished it in three days! A light/medium read, though it includes serious subject matter (see StoryGraph content warnings). Fun for book lovers, as many books and short stories are referenced. My only "complaint" (if  one could even call it that) is that a few times the narrative skips ahead many years in a way that felt a little jolting.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Suicide, Death, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Death of parent, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Medical content, Vomit, and Pregnancy

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

reflective fast-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

4.0

A fast read that I’m glad to have read. It’s a very very good book…just not quite MY book, you know. It’s sparse in a way that mostly left me wanting more of most of it. But I’m sure for others, that could be exactly what makes it shine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Car accident

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Infidelity, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

Aphasia