Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

13 reviews

boscol23's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Eating disorder and Homophobia

maybeicanjustbenell's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Paul Murray never misses 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Homophobia, and Violence

kirstym25's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Pedophilia

cnnr876's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

a tragic and miserable story, and yet i couldn’t stop reading. i found the first third quite difficult to get through (the short vignette-like chapters + half a dozen POV characters made it hard to get in the groove) but the final 2/3 made up for it. murray deftly deals with issues like grief, guilt, addiction, adolescence, anger, and the irish society. i certainly wouldn’t recommend this to everyone, but it’s quite the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

f_amiliar_happine_ss's review

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

3.0

This one I'm a little indecisive... It was okay but then that third part opened and it fell flat after that. And the plot twist that happened (obviously Skippy died, but ~why~ he died) kinda came out of nowhere. I definitely didn't see it coming and it was almost disappointing. Idk, maybe this just wasn't for me. Three stars, wouldn't recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Rape

Moderate: Drug use

bickley_moon's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The book is genuinely funny - it made me laugh aloud and it has the most wonderful/weird similes. 
It describes the pain of growing up so well, that you cannot help but have a soft spot or at least some understanding for (almost) anyone in the book.

That being said, it is also devastating at times and I was not prepared for all the (sexual) violence and sadness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug use

annieo15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Skippy Dies was a hard read for me, but only because it was written so well. Tragedy builds upon tragedy and glimmers of redemption are ruthlessly stamped out. But even as the book culminates in desperation and disillusionment, Murray allows for pinpricks of hope to remain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Grief

onceandfuturereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad fast-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

"Say if we started going back in time tonight, could we keep going back for as long as we wanted?" 

If Catch-22 (think Minderbinder's deranged clone) and The Chocolate War (think open secrets and untouchable elite) had a baby, it would be called "Skippy Dies." If you can handle 661 pages of the meandering interests of teenagers coupled with the senseless actions of the adults tasked with raising them, then this book is for you. And yes, that is a dare. 

This book juxtaposes some of my favorite things: science and paganism...and also, adults and teenagers.

Murray's writing style is unique in that it immediately transports the reader to another world. The characters' voices rang through the pages and I carried their heartaches with me throughout the day. Every night I would read a few chapters and find myself astonished at the persistent proof of a simple claim: that adults are far more clueless than kids. It's been demonstrated time and time again ("when you grow up, your heart dies," from Breakfast Club comes to mind) but it's the type of theme that deserves its own epic. 

I wish there was a sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

pun1sher's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Don't pick up this book if you want a quick, easy read.
This is a dark, dark comedy where the bad guys get away with what they've done, kids go crazy, and adults are all liars or sad or both. Skippy dies is about everything and nothing at all; at moments it reads fast, on other occasions its slow and painful to get through. It takes effort to finish this book because it's weird illogical unsettling and resembles a dense mud puddle. I'm not sure if those struggles are exactly worth it for everyone, but I'm not going to regret the time spent finding out why Skippy died and what happened after. Those 600 something pages are a tangle of horny teenage boys, private schools, disturbing secrets of the Catholic priests, failed inventions, grief, toxic relationships, donuts, and whatnot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Infidelity, and Cultural appropriation

homophobic slurs, vulgar discussion of sexual intercourse, fantasies of noncon/rape (including child rape), nword usage by white characters, attempted drugging

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

At first I was very intimidated by the length of this book (and the fact I had to read along and discuss with a partner I barely know) but it was so easy and worth it to become invested in the story. The subject matter is heavy (covering addiction, mental illness, racism, bullying etc) but it never loses its core tone, the humor that comes along with a group of clueless teenage boys just trying to figure things out.

Songs: 

• Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club
• Parking Lot - HUNNY
• Sex Sells - Lovejoy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer