Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

15 reviews

_forestofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It's usually difficult for me to enjoy a classic, but this one was right on the money. I enjoyed the slow build, the internal monologues of our main character. Robert Neville, the regular guy who just so happens to be the last human on earth surrounded by blood sucking fiends. 

It was painful and lonely and twisted reading this book. And I honestly enjoyed every minute. 

It was always fascinating even when nothing was happening. I don't think this book is for everyone, it's slow and deliberately so. It's also very heavily focused on one man constantly wishing he was dead or that he could find other people, which may be boring to some. 

But the real themes about loneliness at the end of the world, being faced with insurmountable odds and horrors most people could not imagine and the ways a person can change even when faced with such adversity, was incredible. And that last line hit me like a truck. 

/

The fact there were no real vampires was a bit of a disappointment, but I really enjoyed the explanations and the science Neville discovered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm

mjones14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

I much preferred the second half of this book and actually the ending is better than the film. That being said, this book is unfortunately a victim of its age. It's views on women are misogynistic at best, and doesn't have the best grammar. Gave a high rating due to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: War

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

2.0

The science still holds up at some points which is pretty cool. Interesting take on vampires, but uncomfortably dated (views of the 50s in regards to women and POCs).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

POCs referred to as 'Negroes' and not named, only occurs in one chapter. Followers of Islam are referred to as Mohammedans. Jews and Judaism are also mentioned, but no derogatory comments made. Main character is tempted to SA/rape women, including comatose/sleeping/undead women. This is mentioned several times.

cheyannejeanette's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcohol

Robert's mental dialog processing being the last human on earth and the depression and suicidal ideation that comes with it was too dark and uncomfortable for me to read. Not to mention the descriptions of his sexual desires surrounding the vampires and the constant murder was just not my cup of tea.

booksthatburn's review against another edition

Having heard for years that the book "I Am Legend" is much better than the movie (which I liked), I tried the book.
Holy crap, that was a quick DNF. The (cis, white, male) protagonist's main complaint about maybe being the last human is how it made him involuntarily celibate. Written in the 1950's, this has not aged well. Also, his reaction to vampire babes moaning sexily outside his window is to be upset about how much he wants to but can't/shouldn't fuck them. I like sexy vampires. I like unsexy vampires. I do not care for man complaining that sexy vampires are a trap.  I stopped after the weird thought exercise about whether vampires are worse than the mothers of politicians and arms manufacturers, distillers, and pornographers. 
The one thing I will grant it is that the audiobook narrator did a great job, their narration reinforced the trapped feeling of his perspective, how much he focuses his thoughts on emotionally safe pathways (for him), and tries to avoid his distress. Unfortunately those pathways are sexist as fuck. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bearystarry's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.75

I didn't realize this was half I Am Legend and half short stories when I bought it. I Am Legend was way too bleak for me. Some of the short stories had really interesting premises but weak execution, or I would have liked to be expanded. My favourite part of the whole book was The Funeral;

just a fun little monster story!

I thought it was cute, tbh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, and Car accident

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

demetrius_bennett's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Sexual harassment

sassmistress's review

dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Very much not my usual speed, but I see why it's genre-defining. It must be a *really* early take on zombie apocalypse literature. It's a solid mix of psychological horror and zombie thriller, with a dash of that classic sci-fi introspection. Extremely gripping, at points, like The Walking Dead (sorry to relate it to something newer!) Choc-full of content concerns, though, so I can't rate it any higher. But I really enjoyed the read and want one for my classics shelf. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

- Very graphic depiction of alcoholism and heavy alcohol use, from the mind of the user. We're constantly watching strong drinks spill, smell, burn going down, numb emotion, etc.
- POV is regularly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
- Memories of his wife wasting away and dying, then having to dispose of her body. The grief is graphic. His child dies, too, though this is less prominent.
- Dog content:

He feeds the feral/traumatized dog and slowly befriends it. During this process, the dog is infected. He brings the dog inside, hoping to cure it before it passes, and it panics extensively. He calms it down, the dog licks him, he cries, and then says the dog died a week later.

- He is an atheist, but prays twice out of desperation. Religion is otherwise depicted as frenzied madness.
- Lots of lustful gaze and objectification. This is viewed as the inevitable result of a man's "deprivation" / isolation. One passionate embrace/kiss.
- Blood, obviously, and some violent "vampire" deaths, but most of it is kept at a moderate emotional distance. Most deaths are the MC bleeding out the sleeping "vampires", not described too graphically, but a few are more violent.
- Brief mention of rape, and a few suicidal thoughts.

katrinarose's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

4.0

For such a short book it sure packs a punch. I loved the ending and the grim reality that we see of Neville’s life. Despite the monotony of most of his days, this book flew by for me. And even now after seeing hundreds of versions of a vampire and/or pandemic story, I still find this one original and compelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content