Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Verge: Stories by Lidia Yuknavitch

6 reviews

vigil's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

like my experience with thrust, i adored this book. yuknavitch isn’t one to pull her punches and isn’t afraid to get weird with it in a way that i really enjoyed.
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twilightfan420's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

What a collection of stories! Some of them (like the first - The Organ Runner) made me so sad and unsettled I felt sick. Others, like the one about Bosche and Aram filled me with so much warmth by the end I wanted to read more of their story. Fast-paced and unique, this collection truly explores characters caught up on the precipice of SOMETHING whatever that may be. Stories of resilience followed stories of melancholy in such a natural way the vignettes really felt like snapshots of life. I especially love how the dialogue flowed right through the paragraphs and the representation of queer characters of all identities and socioeconomic classes.
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that_nao's review against another edition

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

2.0

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savvylit's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

About a decade ago, I read Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology of Water and loved it. Yuknavitch has a distinct, raw way of writing that I was delighted to rediscover in Verge. Each of the stories in this collection presents individual people experiencing extremes. A young child delivers organs on the black market, a sex trafficked girl dreams of escape, a lonely janitor creates a city out of trash, a young woman deals drugs to prisoners... Describing these often difficult-to-stomach situations, Yuknavitch explores the humanity of her characters in an incredibly non-moralizing and empathetic manner. However, as Verge progressed, the stories began to feel repetitive - especially in the way sex was used as a consistent shock factor. Ultimately, I feel very indifferent to this book. I'm not sure what Yuknavitch was trying to achieve.
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katlinmb's review

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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caroline_norrish's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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