Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

13 reviews

emilye's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child death

Minor: Child abuse

laurenpat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-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

4.75

This was so good! I really enjoyed it. Would love to see a movie or tv series made out of the book someday.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

kenny_2288's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rideauriverreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, and Sexual violence

rcv23's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious 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

3.25

I was looking forward to this because I LOVED the Alice Network but this largely fell flat for me. The characters were great but the story unfolded slowly and large parts of the novel could have been taken out. That being said, I did appreciated the historical context of the characters' past lives. The ending was great and had all the tension I wanted from the book as a whole. Giving 3.25 stars because it is well written, well researched and I was invested in the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and War

bries_librarybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Loved this book. Enough suspense and mystery to keep you guessing, the heartbreak and war time related loss and destruction was powerful! I loved all 3 of the main girls and their stories as they came together! Learned so much, its based on true locations, and people who served in WWII which was amazing to see reflected in the novel. The authors notes on where she mixed reality with fiction was a great read too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and War

jencolumb0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

A sweeping historical war-time novel; almost a math geek's League of Their Own. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of WWII history that I had not previously heard about. I also thoroughly enjoyed coming along for the ride of the (fictionalized) rise, fall, and rise again of a trio of war-time friends. As one would expect with a novel set in England during WWII, there is a fair amount of discussion around loss and violence. As the book is centered on a trio of women, the loss and violence they experience is, to a certain degree, reflective of their gender and the patriarchal constructs of the time, though I do appreciate the author's challenge to these experiences. There was just enough romance blended into the book and a solid HEA/HFN for each of the primary characters to keep it from being a complete, war-time downer, though please do read through the content warnings if you have any sensitivity to specific issues because, in more than 600 pages, pretty much every type of loss/traumatic experience is explored to some degree. I did not love that the character coded as autistic ends up spending

three and half years in a mental institution

, even if it was completely irrelevant to their neurodiversity. It just felt kind of ick. Though I, overall, enjoyed the character development, after about 500 pages, had to chuckle at the neat twists that had to snap into place to get to the HEA/HFN. While improbable on balance, those twists make for a satisfying (if not slightly madcap) outcome to an interesting corner of well-fictionalized history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

The racism and islamophobia are challenged to a degree. There is also a favorable depiction of an open marriage where criticism thereof is challenged.

srah's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

4.5

I took off a quarter point for being a bit longer and slower than it needed to be, and another quarter point for the graphic descriptions in the

Café de Paris

scene, which I have been thinking about all week since I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Genocide and Homophobia

daniallreads's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual content