Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

6 reviews

bendercath's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was heartily recommended to me by someone I respect a lot so I was very eager to fall in love with it. WFTD=Disappointed. The characters are charming and lovable … but they are just not real! The three central adolescent characters all have experienced grief, loss, and trauma, yet they are remarkably unselfish, quite self-aware, and forgiving. Where is the anger, the hurt, the self-doubt? There was some mention of doubt but it was not fully explored. People with a prefrontal cortex that is not fully formed are going to be much more impulsive and make a lot more mistakes than these three characters do.
I really liked the relationship between Sal and his father … and the ending was fulfilling in that regard. His dad was truly the hero of the book.
There was a lot of repetition in the dialogue (both internal and in their interactions) and this became quite tedious. I was listening to this as an audiobook and flipped it up to double-speed about two-thirds of the way just to get through it faster. And this was very sad because Robbie Daymond’s narration was excellent.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Rape

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Blood, Pregnancy, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Cancer, Terminal illness, Violence, Addiction, and Sexism

nefari_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

1.0

“She knew I hated being called white boy. Even though I was technically a white boy, I was raised in a Mexican family. So I didn’t qualify as your average white boy. “

“The B word is the N-word for girls. I hate that. What kind of feminist are you, anyway? “

“One of the great things about Sam was that she didn’t throw like a girl. “

“You know, for a gay guy, my dad was pretty straight. “

“And Fito’s such a schizophrenic dork. “

These direct quotes….speak for themselves 🙃. I can’t believe this is the same author who wrote 2 of my favorite books. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Ableism, Car accident, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This writing style is kinda choppy, like it's mostly simple sentences, but I guess that's what makes the 450 pages feel like an easy read. Not sure the author really knows any teenagers in real life, but they don't text like that. Who shortens don't to dn't keeping the apostrophe? Besides minor nitpicky things like that, this really was a beautiful book. It was light and heartfelt, but what really hit me was being reminded of last April and everything me and my family went through while my Meemaw was in hospice. Grief really is love with nowhere to go.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

papercraftalex's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

If you like coming of age novels wrought with emotion and metaphors, you'll love this. Benjamin Alire Saenz has a magical way with words and his characters are always so real. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

alylentz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

2021 reread: I still think this is lovely and warm, but I did realize how slowly it moved this time and maybe wished there was a little more plot driving things along. I don't think I loved it quite as much as the first time, but still found it beautiful and an enjoyable reread.

I probably read this in a little over 24 hours. His style is just so readable and his stories always hook me immediately and I can't put them down. I enjoyed seeing a different kind of plot than Aristotle and Dante (which I loved so much I still think about it probably like every day) but with a lot of similar coming of age and community themes. I couldn't help comparing them, and while I do think that one was probably a better novel overall, this one is still extremely strong. At times things seem to fall into place too easily or there was something about the narration that seemed like it wasn't as natural as A&D, but overall, I got completely sucked in and couldn't predict what was going to happen. And of course, I cried at the end! Anyway, I loved this--it's a quick read that still manages to feel soulful, fresh, and honest.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence