Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

50 reviews

lordofanywhere's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use

lazarr0103's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

A little too slow paced for me, but an excellent book for discussion. There were quite a few stand out themes and lines. I like this book more in reflection that actually reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

sleepyriv's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ejsimpson's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

christinewonder's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

brianna2811's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, and Stalking

loyloy_bluesky's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

I'm actually not sure how i feel about this book. also not sure if this is spoiler stuff but i will wrap it just in case:

I have a mix of "this is meant to be voyeuristic and is a commentary on the hypocrisy of the neighbours boys and their delusions of "knowing" the Lisbon girls" and "this is a very creepy view of teenage girls that lacks depth and ultimately dehumanises and oversexualises them". 

i expected the book to be from the perspective of the girls, so was intrigued at the start when i realised it was from an unnamed neighbour's point of view, but then by the end i really wished it was from the girls' points of view. my favourite moments were the little shows of the girls' real nature - the chattiness at the dance, Therese's radio conversations, the sharing of music over the radio. So probably these moments made me enjoy the book, but there weren't enough of them.

I found myself getting bored of the long descriptions of the characters being interviewed who would never be brought up again, and disappointed that there was no "conclusion" or even an explanation of the reasoning of the interviews - were they just being nosy? did he grow up to be a detective? why would people (especially the parents) answer these questions if it wasn't an official thing?

Also, there was so much attention on Lux (obviously as the most outwardly sexual and therefore easiest to sexualise), but i really would've loved more on the other sisters, especially Mary and Therese. it's quite creepy that only cecelia, bonnie and lux, as the youngest sisters, got attention - possibly a commentary on oversexualising young girls? but again i think this book lacked a Moment or Epiphany that showed it really was a commentary on society rather than another piece of the society itself. 

one last thing, there's not really any payoff by reading the book. you don't get any deeper understanding of the girls, why they did what they did etc., and you know even before reading it what the ending will be, and they keep mentioning throughout how the girls will be dead by the end, so it sort of felt unnecessarily long considering you know whats gonna happen. i saw a review though that said it was meant to put you into the perspective of the neighbours who also had no idea of the details, which is a better way of looking at it, but again probably too long of a book (and it isn't even that long, only 240 pages)

The writing was very flowery which was nice at times, i found myself wanting to underline descriptions that stood out to me, but sometimes it was over the top and became hard to read. Mixed feelings and unsure of what rating to put but i will stick with this for now and it might change once i have mulled it over a bit longer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

lucycjgray's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, and Alcohol

lexigrce's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is just so tragic, the irony of telling a whole story encapsulating these girls’ lives when they truly didn’t know them at all. i remember first watching the movie when i was maybe 16 or 17 and writing it off. but when i rewatched it a year ago, despite being even further from the sisters’ ages than i originally was, i actually understood. reading the book somehow feels more real, seeing the story as it is without the added glitz of familiar celebrity faces, a bunch of made up stories constructed so that the boys could feel interesting and connected to the girls, as if they could even for a second understand what it felt like to be them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

elysianbud's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Very odd book, but I very much enjoyed the writing style - the descriptions were really well done. Felt quite slow to read yet I still managed to finish it in about six hours. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Ableism and Racial slurs