Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

77 reviews

heron_m's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual assault and Violence

orlagal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thursdd4y's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

The ending was lovely, but this book felt 200 pages too long and I really started to hate picking it up. Personally a lot of it could’ve been cut and made everything a lot more powerful and engaging, because at times it felt tedious.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

yellowbinge's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual content

maijaka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

Bittersweet facet of the ending that I can’t tell if I appreciate or not 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hduc's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

stabilesero's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

I have a soft spot for books that contain characters with mental illness, and Ozeki worked magic with Benny's character. Very few authors are able to portray the harrowing details of living with mental illness, and she absolutely hit the mark. 
Benny and his mother's story is one of grief, struggle within society, expectations one puts on oneself and society's expectations; as well as all the things including growing up, community and belonging. 
I loved this book so much and I really didn't expect to. It had been sitting on my tbr shelf for so long because I feared it's size but it was worth it. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but between the crows, jazz music, B-Man and all the other intricate details of this book; this was my book to a T.
I will absolutely be picking up more by Ozeki.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

itsbumley's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual violence

cymbopogon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

I'm still not sure whether I liked this book or not.

It was much darker and heavy with psychological issues than I was expecting.

I did not particularly enjoy having insights from the Book + interruptions from Benny + Tidy Magic (Kondo method but by a zen nun) in addition to the book itself. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Very respectful of people with different minds. Very kind. Very well reseaeched into the intersections of people's lives and how their mental illnesses or impairities can / may be affected by outside factors. Very very, very real, living, loving book. 🥰 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Pandemic/Epidemic