Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

11 reviews

bookcaptivated's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Animal death, Injury/injury detail, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Excrement, Antisemitism, Confinement, Ableism, Fatphobia, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit, Car accident, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Dementia, Misogyny, Racism, Trafficking, and Death of parent

napalm's review

adventurous dark

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I’ll admit this wasn’t my favorite. I enjoyed the film immensely and as such was disappointed with the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

abbey_ford's review

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Addiction and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

planetshelf's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t know whether it’s just because of who I am, but I don’t think this is very romantic. It is very centered around thoughts of sex and overly anatomical descriptions of bodies (boobs’ descriptions were weird and often related to acidic fruits and penises sounded repulsive), but doesn’t feel at all like other books I’ve read that are categorized as romances.

The way Jacob — 90 (or 93) — is written is wonderful. I don’t know exactly what elders think, but I grew up with grandparents as my guardians and I feel an oddly sentimental connection with the more utilitarian thoughts that were written.

I feel this may be worth mentioning: the author uses non-colloquial vocabulary when referring to a body. If that might be uncomfortable for you, you probably should let this one go.

Nonetheless, I liked it and thought it was a fun journey to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Death, Animal death, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Fatphobia, Injury/injury detail, and Pregnancy

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cursing, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Death, Murder, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Toxic relationship

jasminn_perez's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i was disappointed in the writing. there were so many times where i was questioning what the fuck was going on and why i was reading abt it. the love story was ass bro. like ive read fan fiction that was better written. made me so sad. marlena pissed me off too that bitch was always crying about something. howeverrr i was surprised at how well this book kept my attention like i was entertained fs. i love walter and i actually cried i miss him sm. jacob and walter had a better relationship progression than him and marlena liiikkee. august got what he deserved tbfh and it was a satisfactory ending to him :)). rosie slayed always. i pictured jacob as like a nerdy lookin rob and i was satisfied he was pretty sexy. i am excited to watch the movie. but also why tf was he yelling all the time. this book changed my views on old ppl actually. like being in a home sounds so sucky and when his family forgot abt him i cried so bad. it also made me happy that he rejoined the circus at the end :3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

cammiem8's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book more. I love books about old timey cheating, but the love story just didn’t quite grip me. The plot had enough turns to keep me engaged and I did listen through it very quickly. I also didn’t care much for the parts of the book set much later with the old man, I didn’t think the framing device added much of value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Antisemitism, Cursing, Car accident, and Gore

Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Animal abuse is constant in the book, but it is very clearly condemned by the protagonist

sarahdr_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

The storytelling is incredible! One of the best books I've read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse and Death

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Alcohol

tisdianes's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Anyone that truly knows me is well aware of my genuine  love for— well, we’ll just say, ‘circus- themed’ stuffs.. a childhood story. 

Movin’ on… Anyway, this is a title that keeps getting mentioned quite often. And so here’s my approach: a read-along (e-book + audiobook) & then, enjoy the picture show! 

🎪Water for elephants by Sara Gruen [2007]

🤡Audiobook narrated by David LeDoux

🍿Movie [2011] starring Robert Pattinson,  Reese Witherspoon, et al.

#HistoricalFiction #Drama #Romance

My word this is such a good book! I did end up doing  a read-along And Wow… Not only am I impressed by how well researched and complete the dual-timeline story is, but the narration for this book is incredible, too. It’s a dramatic, heart-pounding  performance, honestly. The story, largely set aboard a traveling train circus, is action-packed and character driven while cleverly weaving a Biblical story throughout it. However, I didn’t fully grasp the latter, even though I kept noting the multiple Biblical references, until I read an author Q&A offered at the end of the book.

Quite possibly my book of the year. 

⚠️ Warning: Mature Content and Language 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Racial slurs

Biblical

erin_a_ziraphale's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

Agua para elefantes demuestra que aunque algo alcance el status de "clásico" no le tiene que gustar a todas las persomas ni significa que automaticamente lo haga perfecto.

Spoiler

Creo que el libro se hubiera beneficiado muchísimo de haber estado escrito en la perspectiva de Marlena o una narración en tercera persona, siendo Jacob el narrador que intenta meterse en la cabeza de Marlena.
 Marlena es la que sufre y esta atrapada en primer lugar bajo el yugo machista y las manipulaciones de August, Marlena es quién pone en movimiento a Jacob y la primera en darse cuenta que comparten un vínculo a través de los animales, Marlena es la actriz que actua con Rosie y quien tiene un vinculo más profundo con ella.
 La historia se supone que es de Marlena, Jacob y Rosie, sin embargo Marlena parace el personaje principal; y ni aún así esta bien desarrollada. Marlena es solo la manic pixie dream girl que esta ahí para Jacob aprenda a amar la vida después de la muerte de sus padres.
 Ninguno de estos personajes esta bien construido y sus relaciones parecen estar hechas de papel cartón. Los elememtos estan ahí, pero la autora no supo desarrollarlos bien.
 Y ya ni hablemos de la vilificación de las enfermedades mentales, August no es un maltratador, manipulador, controlador, vampiro emocional porque sea esquizofrenico, ni ser esquizofrenico lo excusa de todo el maltrato al que somete a Marlena, Rosie y Jacob; esta historia intenta ser sobre tres víctimas que estan en una relación tóxica con un manipulador y pretende que excusemos y sintamos penita por el manipulador asqueroso porque, ay pobrecito lo dejo la mujer y alejó a todos sus amigos, no puede evitarlo, es un enfermito mental???? En las palabras ancestrales de mi pueblo: no chingues.

 Solo acabe el libro por la ambientación del circo en los años de la Gran Depresión, al menos ahí si se notó que la autora hizo un mínimo esfuerzo por investigar y lo supo capturar de una manera entretenida y adictiva que no podia dejar de leer.
 En general un libro pasable, recomendable si quiere una novela de romance simple pero palomitera para pasar una tarde en que te aburres.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death

Strong vilification of mental illnesses like schizophernia