Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

22 reviews

georgie_mb's review

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

2.75

I feel really mixed about this. Maybe this is more of a 2.75 than a 3…

Let’s start with the positives: the descriptions are truly beautiful, and that honestly was a whole star in my rrating system. I could see The Paper Palace and it’s surrounding, it was a very sensory experience. 
For some reason (and I don’t really know why), I got more into this in the second half than the first, and I’m wondering whether it was because I settled into the banter of the family. Possibly because it reminded me slightly of my own…

I do have some issues with it though. Firstly I don’t think it helped that the Audible narrator sounded like the female US Siri which made some of it come across as very cold. But I think even looking past that, some parts really lacked emotion, and almost came across as harsh. I found this particularly hard to swallow when it come to the really disturbing parts, so much so I had to skip forward sometimes. 

I also found the storyline lacked purpose. I think with the beginning it set it up to be a completely different book to what it turned out to be, and I was left slightly disappointed by that. There just didn’t seem to be any clear direction, regardless of the varying time lines. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Infidelity, and Rape

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

beatriks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is great, a family story, mysterious, dark, light, beautifully written, great twists, good jumps in timelines, overall great storytelling.

A great story about the sh*t women have to deal with in this world built by weak and violent men. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Misogyny

lbh_0327's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Incest, and Sexual violence

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, Vomit, Alcohol, Body shaming, Drug use, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

jahncie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Blood, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Cancer, Death, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, and Pregnancy

melmelmel51'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual content, Cursing, and Cancer

Minor: Alcohol

nahomym's review against another edition

This book was way to heavy for me, I usually look to escape in books but this had too much trauma.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, and Alcohol

field_pumpkin's review against another edition

challenging emotional relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Death

Moderate: Alcohol and Cancer

marie_is_reading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief and Murder

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Alcohol

skibbonboulash's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

Let’s make the main characters childhood as traumatizing as possible then have a climax that is meaningless because you’re numb to trauma by then and then finish off with an underwhelming resolution and conclusion. You can tell the author writes for HBO (not a compliment)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Infertility, Death of parent, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Cancer, Bullying, Body shaming, Rape, Child abuse, Stalking, Sexual content, Murder, Classism, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Suicide

kfquarium's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Cursing, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, and Incest

Minor: Blood, Bullying, and Excrement