Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom

7 reviews

brianareads's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

wichbich's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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

3.0

Mom death

. This is a huge theme of the book that is not hinted at at all in the description so please proceed with caution as it could be quite triggering. I was not expecting to encounter this at all but I would say it encompasses the bulk of the story. 

This was an interesting book with an interesting idea. I would say the experience of the narrator is very specific and I don't agree with her a lot of the time. That doesn't make her wrong but her voice is often sort of grandiose as she discusses ideas of universal morals so it does feel a but like being fed a worldview. 

Overall this book feels like less of a narrative and more like a reflection on loss, trauma, and image in the midst of an attempt to realign oneself through even more trauma (and some light stalking). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and Car accident

ohennui's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lowbrowhighart'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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Car accident

tigger89's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is a lot in a very small package. I went into it thinking it would be more of a sci-fi medical horror title, but there was very little focus on the Aesthetica procedure itself. Rather, the focus of the story was on Anna's descent into social media addiction, body alteration and abuse. Aesthetica was an off-screen plot device, a method by which to press a magical reset button.

Something I appreciated about this title was how realistic the portrayal of social media addiction was, specifically the slide into seeing everything — no matter how personal — as something to be exploited for internet points. I've never gone for instagram, but I've experienced enough dopamine hits on other platforms to recognize the danger there. She was also spot-on when describing diet culture, particularly how it's passed inter-generationally from mother to daughter. The way this was written was chilling enough that it could be a source of horror to some, though it was a little too close to my own experiences growing up for it to land that way for me.

I don't think that I agree with what appears to be the author's message, that women can't be truly empowered when under misogynistic influences — which is all of us, everywhere, all the time. But this argument winds up removing agency from the oppressed even as it claims to protect it, as it merely replaces those harmful influences with a different set of boilerplate rules for "how to be empowered," which might not be a good fit for every individual! I think the concerns raised in this book are good to be aware of, as it certainly is a thing that happens, but there's no clear answer here with regard to what to actually do to fight this effect.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Infertility

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

2.75

I feel like the book box I got this from mis-represented the book. This book is not about the procedure. The procedure is covered in a single paragraph about 2/3 of the way through the book. This is about a very specific 6 month or so period of Anna's life that is supposed to give the reader an idea of why she wanted this procedure. It seemed very tech dystopian when I was reading the summary, but it's not. It's very literary and sad. I love the author's writing, but this isn't what I expected.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, and Mental illness

spaceseagull321's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent