Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

5 reviews

brotestantethic's review against another edition

reflective 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? No

4.5

Triumphant and breathtaking. Zhang creates her own intoxicating language of food and sex, one in which protagonist and reader are hazed and obscured from the dark underpinnings of “the mountain.” This language does truthfully make some sections of the novel hard to follow. There are depths of metaphors, but even if you only glean a couple central themes, you will be better off for it. What resonated best with me were the themes of power, venture capitalism, eco-fascism, and the sameness inside women.

Only the ending made me rate this book slightly lower than five stars.

The protagonist idolizes Aida, her love interest, and it’s unclear why. She treats her as if she is completely innocent and acting under her father’s hand. I was really thrown off by this, and I think the impact would have been stronger had the narrator’s feelings been different. Furthermore, the ending is a bit too optimistic for me. The world improves almost completely. This is another case where, if the ending had been more dire, the book might have been more impactful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Alcoholism

nanadalmatian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Violence, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, and Child death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism

Minor: Body shaming, Dysphoria, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

alleahwebb's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Classism, Confinement, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Physical abuse, and Violence

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

The story is set in a dystopian world in which an environmental catastrophe darkened earth's sky resulting in chaos and lack of food. We follow a chef to a remote mountain top where an influential man built a restaurant serving fresh food grown on his lands. A luxury only few can afford.
The book is very sensual and pleasure focussed which stands in contrast to the dying world around them. 
The book was a little bit too dark and gross for me at times but that is to be expected from a dystopian book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Addiction

Moderate: War, Animal death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Car accident, Violence, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

wynnebirchmaple's review against another edition

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

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

4.5

This short big runs deep and wide. It’s a lot of things… Dystopia, Socio-political commentary, Satire, Gastro Horror, Loss of a Mother story, and a cautionary tale regarding climate collapse, how we change food and food changes us and change is inevitable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Lesbophobia, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Classism, Vomit, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Sexual violence, Racism, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

It’s not as bad as the content warnings might suggest but it tries to be for brief moments. Is this why Ron Charles hated this book? I enjoyed it