Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

20 reviews

youmns's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

"Any Man" should come with one giant blinking red trigger warning.

Some parts read like spoken word poetry. Some are simply fiction. Almost all of it is horror, though I imagine it's well-researched and true horror. The sexual assaults are described with simultaneously less and more detail than needed to get their point across. The way people respond to the victims is horrifying. The way we alienate and vilify victims and survivors of sexual assault is horrifying.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this book, so I won't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child abuse, Body horror, Torture, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Blood

Giant, massive trigger warning for survivors of sexual abuse: maybe don't read this book.

bookgrind's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

5.0

Coming from an individual that was sexually assaulted, this novel is graphic and depicts how it feels to come out as being sexually assaulted and the inner feelings that they experience. Excellent novel about this awful topic!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death

plantedpaperbacks's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

All I will say is, check the content warnings because wow this book is intense. (Also, listen to the audiobook)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

READ TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS
this was a great read (not necessarily because of the story since it discusses r*p* and s*x*u*l a*s*u*t, but the way it was told). It's multiple pov and can get pretty graphic. I wish we got a little bit of expansion on Michael and Sebastian as they were the victims we got the least amount of time with. I also didn't love the ending, but it was wrapped up nicely enough for me with how the victims coped and tried to heal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Transphobia, Grief, Sexism, Alcohol, Self harm, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Cursing, Animal death, Mental illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

ellebosco's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Pedophilia, and Self harm

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was like nothing I’ve ever read before. I want to strongly encourage folks to check the content warnings prior to delving into this book but once you’ve done that if you’re at a place where you feel you can read this book I’d highly recommend it. 

This book follows several men who’ve been raped by an unknown woman and we’re following them as they work to pick up the pieces within their lives and regain some sense of normalcy or something new. We follow them through journal entries, internet searches, online chats, and media reactions and they all come together to make a rich story that is able to delve into difficult topics including sexual assault and rape as it relates to racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, toxic masculinity, media coverage and our criminal justice system. 

This was an incredibly difficult read but I’m so glad I read it and I can tell I’ll be thinking about the questions it raised for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Violence, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Abandonment

peggy_racham's review against another edition

5.0

"Any man will do."

A very difficult but important read. 
All the TWs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Gore, Mental illness, Animal death, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cancer, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

tallhousecookies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Self harm, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Deadnaming, and Alcoholism

Minor: Murder and Terminal illness

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

Well, I was looking for a change of pace and I think I got it.  The topic itself is hard to read about, hard to talk about, etc.

The writing was quite well done, kind of a bit of mixed media with the journal entries, chat logs, transcripts, poetry, and radio show vibes.  The first three victims were well fleshed out and their trauma was ever present and horrifying.  The later ones felt more superficial though I'm not really sure why.  There were also quite a few questions that were raised in the plot that were never answered that made it feel a bit rushed.

I do think this is a good book that has a lot of value in representing sexual assault as a whole and especially in male victims.  However, with all that in mind, I don't feel like I was the intended audience because I don't generally like to read books about rape.  I suppose I didn't expect it to be quite so graphic about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Body horror, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol