Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Zwei an einem Tag by David Nicholls

53 reviews

hjb_128's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

marissagero's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

I had to take a break from this book 50% of the way through because it put me in a rut. I’m glad I finished it, but it was hard to get through. I didn’t like that every chapter left off on a cliffhanger and the next chapter jumped a year into the future. I felt like a lot of cliffhangers were never fully “wrapped up”. I also kept finding myself thinking “I can tell a man wrote this book” every time Emma’s appearance was described. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

aaannina's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Death of parent

sarabookshelf's review against another edition

emotional

3.75

I watched both the movie and the series prior to reading the book, so I was a bit worried if I spoiled it for myself. But I still enjoyed the book, especially because I liked having more insight into the inner thoughts of Dexter and Emma. . I do have to say that I actually enjoyed some aspects of the show more than the book (such as

the closer relationship between Emma and Tilly, and that Dexter doesn't start dating someone after Emma

).
It's very sad, but still funny and witty at times, and both the characters are flawed (Dexter more than Emma) and complete people with and without each other (Emma more than Dexter) And the concept of following the characters throughout the years but only on a spefic date is unique, and heartbreaking when you find out the date's relevance. Their relationship progresses quite naturally and the ups and downs of their relationship and even life are very realistic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

poppyskills's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

misswendy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

denijaaa_s's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.0

okayyy, man likās, ka grāmata būs tikpat laba vai pat labāka nekā seriāls, bet jāsaka, ka es biju diezgan vīlusies. nu nevar būt tā, ka diviem cilvēkiem visu laiku ir melnā strīpa dzīvē, un tad, kad parādās cerības stars par labāku dzīvi, tad emma vienkārši ņem un nomirst. skatoties seriālu, es biju vairāk moved nekā lasot par to grāmatā. viņi abi ir sarkanie karogi, un es pat nezinu, kas mani nesaistīja šajā grāmatā. varbūt rakstīšanas stils? varoņi? es pat nezinu, bet es ļoti, ļoti centos, lai man iepatiktos šī grāmata, bet tas diemžēl nebija manos spēkos. :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility and Death of parent

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.5

this feels a lot like a couple of my all-time favourite books i've ever read which is probably part of why i enjoyed this so much but it isn't perfect. just to get this out of the way, it was annoyingly obvious that this was written by a man at parts - emma was mostly well written (i kept forgetting she was written by a man) but this showed a lot in the way that the other women were written in this book. just straight up caricatures. it also felt like it would've done numbers on tumblr (for the same reasons The Fault in Our Stars did) but despite all of that i really loved this novel. i loved the characters - they were complex and flawed but they felt so real and it made it even more frustrating to watch them constantly fuck up. the ending hit me like a truck and i'm so glad i picked this up. this is (almost) everything i wanted Talking at Night to be! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Excrement, and Vomit

idk_indigo's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I'm trying to figure out how to word what I liked/didn't like about this book without saying just, "It's painfully obvious that this was written by a man" because, like, men can write good books too and in fairness, this was a good book. But it was painfully obvious that this was written by a man.

My favorite part of this book was definitely the format; I loved that it told a story from a singular day per year in the lives of Dex and Em. It was a really cool way to show how they were growing throughout the years as well as the development of their friendship and eventual relationship. Plus, in the end when we finally got a second day, it was really sweet.

I also appreciated that the characters were so unlikeable relatable. The inner monologues that the audience got to see was interesting, and also reflected who they were at the time as well as their flaws (eg., a persistent lack of confidence from Emma, the underlying addiction from Dexter). Seeing their inner thoughts, then seeing how they were with other friends or partners, then seeing how they were with each other, it was quite beautiful. 

I loved the ending, despite it being

depressing as fuck. While I don't think it was "necessary," per se, as pointless deaths never are, I think it was what the book was about. It wasn't a comedy or even a romance, it was a tragedy. And it was oh-so-pointless, hence why it happens when they are finally happy.

What I didn't like so much was the writing style. I don't know how to explain it but it was almost exhausting at times. Overly wordy, plus the descriptions of things were weird/ridiculous, and especially the descriptions of the women Dexter dated. Suki Meadows was done so dirty. And Tilly. God I wanted to gag whenever Tilly was brought up. Men love to talk about how fat women are without actually using the word fat. Emma was forced to stumble into Tilly's humungous, gigantic, gargantuan bras because Tilly insisted on washing them in the sink. She has such colossal, enormous, elephantine (thank you, thesaurus.com) titties and dons them in boring beige bras that are just strewn all about the flat. 

And ugh, Emma is such an anomaly, she does hate to talk about children and diapers and spit up and bottles. She hates watching her friends' kids, when the time comes she

hates watching Jasmine, too, ugh looking after a kid who's not hers

but also ugh it's all she's ever wanted. Anyways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming and Cancer

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Dysphoria