Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Death of a Bookseller

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

53 reviews

wowsmeows's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.5

"Reading is a way of life for some customers, the
kind of customers who buy more than they read, who behave as though 'bookworm' is as inherent as their blood type or their astrological sign."

Death of a Bookseller is about two characters told through their alternating POVs. There's Roach, a creepy true crime fanatic and Laura, who is unhealthily dealing with her traumatic past. The pair work together in a bookshop are are both unlikeable in their own unique ways. The book explores the idea of hating someone so much that it turns into an obsession and morphs into stalking. As the title suggests, it does delve into a lot of morbid topics with a lot of grotesque language and descriptions throughout. I'd recommend checking out content warnings for this read. However, it is a very slow read and because we have the split POV, I dont think I would personally class it as mystery or a thriller novel as we know what both characters are doing and thinking at all times.

What I I did enjoy was that it had some interesting ideas around the ethics of true crime as a genre. It really made me think about how healthy it really is to consume true crime content. I also thought the book was well written and I thought both characters had distinct personalities that shone through in the text.

I will say that I did dislike the ending and I did feel a bit frustrated by it.

I felt that the story had already been wrapped up nicely with Laura finally escaping Roach and dealing with her past, but Roach's epilogue took it all away from her again.

Content Warnings

beth_s98's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Honestly, this book wasn’t for me, and I only finished it partially out of spite. I hated Roach,

and while I think that’s kind of the point, I struggled to get through her chapters.

I liked Lauren, and a lot of the other characters were interesting.

I hate in the end that Lauren doesn’t get true peace, and we are left with Roach walking back into her life.

There were just so many moments that I felt were either unnecessary or just beyond plausibility. I don’t think the writing was bad, but I was not a fan of the story.

Content Warnings

alnicholl77's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

bookishvampiratelycan's review against another edition

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dark 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

1.0

Content Warnings

g_monaghan's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-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

1.5

This was very close to being dnf'ed for me but a sense of morbid curiosity made me keep reading, no shade to the author but this book made me feel ill and grimy, i thought this was going to be a sapphic tale of obsession and whodunnit but that wasnt the case. The main character was actually vile, her personality of "I'm not like other girls" wore thin quickly and her fascination with the violent death of the person she is obsessed with was so unpleasant to read, I may have excused it if she was literally unhinged but the sad and pathetic relationship she has with that weirdo at the train station showed that she is in fact a normal boring and uninteresting person who delights in exploiting and feeding off the misery of others.
The opening starts with the main character going to a serial killer podcast and judging the other people in line for liking the 'stereotypical ones' that says it all.

Content Warnings

anothergirlanotherbook's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

Content Warnings

partly_stars's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

4.0

That was a good book. A story about obsession, grief, death and true crime un modern society. Mostly obsession.
It was a dark read that still felt emotionally grounded in the reality. Both women are kinda fucked up in their own ways. Laura - self destructive in her grief and loneliness, drawning her pain in alcohol. It did really feel like an interesting portrayal of what trauma can do to a person. Roach - truly a creep with obsessive interest in Laura. Justyfing everything she does in her mind, bot being abke to comprehend emotional states of other people.
Both of them flawed but also with things that make the reader emotionally invested in them. One a car goin full speed towards a cliff, the other - a creepy-crawler that lives in her own version of reality.
I could abalyse them both which goes to say that I feel that it was quite a belivable portrayal if the characters. People felt real, the discussion about true crime media is to be had, the backdrop of running a chain bookstore is interesting. I can see that the author worked in Waterstones for a while haha
Would recommend

Content Warnings

perksofbeingemily's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-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

2.0

Content Warnings

isb_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

Wow. Just wow. This book was an unnerving, grotesque, intriguing, mind-effing wonder. I felt so deeply connected to the characters that it was easy to slip into the dark world Alice Slater has created here. Obsession is a powerful thing, and this book will not soon leave my mind.

Content Warnings

beckkopp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

2.75

I would hardly call this a thriller, but after I got over a quarter through, I found myself attached to the characters and interested in seeing what happened. The author clearly loves developing complicated relationships among characters - my only issue is that most of the characters are so unlovable. We get it, Roach is not like other girls. She never has to learn from any lessons or apologize for any mistakes. A bit unrealistic and took away from the overall message I believe the author was trying to share.

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