Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

8 reviews

kaaaaaaaaaaate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

I cannot compare the little friend to Donna Tart’s other books because I haven’t read them yet- this i did purposely after hearing so many disappointed opinions of this book- something I cannot attest to. I thoroughly ENJOYED the little friend, a beautiful southern gothic cross buildensroman cross mystery/thriller. I found Harriet and her family to be both engaging and fantastical but also very real and full of substance. Whilst the overall book is pretty slow the last 100 pages were fast and easy to devour but I didn’t feel rushed in comparison. The relationships people share with each other and how these relationships change through grief, life experience and tragedy were pivotal aspects of the characters that Tartt explored both delicately but also with a raw and sharp realism that at times was hard to swallow. This honestly just makes me excited to read her other books and enjoy them as much if not more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Alcohol

yleavy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

The novel is very atmospheric, but ultimately an unsatisfying slog that did not need to be told in 620+ pages.

I’ve always been unsettled by how Tartt writes POC, and The Little Friend is no different (maybe worse). This book finally convinced me to never read another of her novels. 

Also, how many times can one write “there was a stunned silence” or “there was a confused pause” in one book? A lot, apparently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

_david_'s review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

This book put me in a reading slump. I'm relieved to finally have finished it. There were great moments in it, but it was so tough to get through. All the long descriptions and show of characters numbed the impact of the good parts.

I ended up skim-reading large parts of the book and reading chapter summaries to check if I read everything important. 

If you're considering dropping the book because you don't like the writing style and a few characters, definitely do drop it. If you're still pusing through because you're trying to figure out the mystery, drop the book. It's an unsatisfying end for most.

I personally kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to Harriet herself and the Ratliffs. Besides that, I found the exploration of grief in the family interesting, but it became much less in the Harriet-focused part of the book. I don't regret finishing the book, but I definitely don't recommend picking it up. There's better books out there about stereotypical Southern USA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, and Abandonment

Tw: Drowning

rzh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism

rowanelisa's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ellensmith's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

This book could be taken up to somewhere in the 3 star range or as low as a straight 2 star. I tried to average it out and marked it as 2.75. This book seemed to lose the plot at some parts, only to never pick it up again. I did really enjoy the discussions about class and race in the southern town. Tartt's writing makes you feel like you are truly in the place and watching the discussion happen. I just cannot justify the beauty of the setting for the actual plot of the novel. It would be a good book to fall asleep to I think. Also! Who the heck killed Robin?

I really do not think it was Danny. Maybe Pem or Pharish. Who knows. Maybe even Alison killed him.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

Dnf page 333.
I just can't do this anymore. Nothing really happens, it is just meandering. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder