Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

5 reviews

brotestantethic's review against another edition

reflective 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? No

4.5

Triumphant and breathtaking. Zhang creates her own intoxicating language of food and sex, one in which protagonist and reader are hazed and obscured from the dark underpinnings of “the mountain.” This language does truthfully make some sections of the novel hard to follow. There are depths of metaphors, but even if you only glean a couple central themes, you will be better off for it. What resonated best with me were the themes of power, venture capitalism, eco-fascism, and the sameness inside women.

Only the ending made me rate this book slightly lower than five stars.

The protagonist idolizes Aida, her love interest, and it’s unclear why. She treats her as if she is completely innocent and acting under her father’s hand. I was really thrown off by this, and I think the impact would have been stronger had the narrator’s feelings been different. Furthermore, the ending is a bit too optimistic for me. The world improves almost completely. This is another case where, if the ending had been more dire, the book might have been more impactful.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child death

christienana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Violence, Medical content, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alleahwebb's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The story is set in a dystopian world in which an environmental catastrophe darkened earth's sky resulting in chaos and lack of food. We follow a chef to a remote mountain top where an influential man built a restaurant serving fresh food grown on his lands. A luxury only few can afford.
The book is very sensual and pleasure focussed which stands in contrast to the dying world around them. 
The book was a little bit too dark and gross for me at times but that is to be expected from a dystopian book

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

wynnebirchmaple's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This short big runs deep and wide. It’s a lot of things… Dystopia, Socio-political commentary, Satire, Gastro Horror, Loss of a Mother story, and a cautionary tale regarding climate collapse, how we change food and food changes us and change is inevitable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

It’s not as bad as the content warnings might suggest but it tries to be for brief moments. Is this why Ron Charles hated this book? I enjoyed it