Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

84 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I really wanted to love this. Unfortunately I feel it fell short to my expectations, perhaps because I was acquainted with the author's other works and I didn't realise this was the first one published. I felt like Nghi Vo wanted to dwell on several topics but barely grazed over them in the end, much in the Great Gatsby itself. The writing style and characterization is very similar so props to Vo for that, because still they felt like Original Characters. The good thing mainly is that we follow Jordan's pov, whereas in the original she was a secondary character, and this book takes the queer subtext and just screams at you QUEER QUEER QUEER in almost every page subtlety and loudly, simultaneously.

Despite that, Jordan's heritage and how the political landscape of the time will affect her are barely addressed by. Her paper cutting magic and the magic realism aspects could have been used more prominently and the queerness of, especially Nick and Jordan, could have been explored in more detail. It felt as if still we only got them as a couple who were each fascinated by Daisy and Jay, rather than madly in love with them. I get it was supposed to feel confusing but I think it didn't translate that well into the text.

The interpretation about the souls was interesting, thou.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, and War

sparklefarm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Glitzy magical Gatsby with disaster bisexuals. Need I say more?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident

Moderate: Abortion and Alcohol

Minor: Racism

literarypenguin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

The Chosen and The Beautiful is a fantasy retelling of the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, where Jordan Baker a minor character from the novel has a more prominent role with a magical twist. I really thought this retelling did the original book justice while still being it's own interpretation making it standout on it's own! 

I loved the magical elements added to the story, like the paper cutting which was a real art that originated during that time. I adored that the author weaved that bit of real history into the story using the main character Jordan as a way to do that. The writing was also really enchanting and painted such a vivid picture of each scene. Like I could see each thing that happened in every paragraph and it was truly beautiful! Though I wish that we could have seen more of this magic in use and seen how it affected the world that this book took place in. 

The characters were equally great as well! I loved how Jordan was written as this strong willed and queer woman who has had to navigate a world that was not made for people of her race. She was also an orphan that was taken from her home country of Vietnam and adopted by a rich white family that raised her well but she still felt like something was missing from herself. Gatsby was a man who was implied to have sold his soul to demons for money and fame, having these lavish parties to attract attention to himself and admiration from those around him. Daisy was a woman who was desperate to escape her loveless marriage and live a life that is filled with more excitement than the one she is currently living. Nick was a man haunted by the horrors of war and has to deal with the trauma from these events. All of the characters were in a way queer, it didn't effect there character too much but it made them all the more interesting to read about! 

I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more books by this author! I hope that they are as great as this one was!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Alcohol

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Slavery, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation

writewithapendragon's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is short but it took me a longer time to read than I expected. Vo’s prose is beautifully poetic, each word carefully chosen. I want to go back and annotate, I enjoyed the language so much. Gatsby itself is so over-done that I wasn’t expecting this to be so unique and captivating, but it is a truly singular work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

lolajh's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.75

Wow. What a rollercoaster. Such a promising lead up,

I loooooved Jordan in the original, and was really rooting for an eventual romance between her and Daisy in this 😫 It fr would have been so perfect for Daisy to realise at the very end she didn’t care for Tom or Gatsby and instead Jordan had been there waiting for her the whole time. They kissed and had such a homoerotic relationship already it would have been perfect

but a much weaker middle

Nick and Jordan’s relationship made me so mad it was so toxic and jordan didn’t even really like him

and end

WHAT THE FUCK EVEN HAPPENED

, especially regarding the magical realism fantasy bits that I really feel didn’t properly meld with the rest of the book. A lot of things were really disappointing, especially regarding the likability of Jordan as a main character when she was one of the only redeeming qualities I could find about the original.  Jordan seemed quite manipulative and fake a lot of the time, and none of this was really explained.

A perfect explanation for her choosing to stay with Nick all that time while she internally complained about him would be that she was FUCKING IN LOVE WITH DAISY yet she never (properly) admitted that and instead just gaslighted Daisy at the end when they were so close to actually addressing their relationship. Even if they just remained friends, I would’ve loved to see them have a happy ending together, even if Jordan had to go with her and Tom. I feel like the fight between them over Gatsby running over that girl was weird and Daisy was just obviously traumatised like everyone else was by seeing a dead body, especially when Daisy actually saw Gatsby kill them and then went through him dying as well.

I loved Daisy, honestly wishing all the best for her and was rooting for her the whole time. Her character is just so real, I loved her in the original as well and think she was written well in this. Just the direction this book went and different weird elements like the fantasy stuff and a hint of incest???? Where jordan got jealous of Daisy flirting with Nick (Daisy and Nick are cousins????) Weird plot point, but anyway. I shouldn’t have gone into this hoping for certain things

like a sapphic romance

because the author never promised that and that isn’t fair. Was still disappointed anyway, but oh well!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Car accident

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

augustrogue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Gorgeously evocative - vicious and incisive and subversive in the best possible ways. Each sentence felt so precise and surprising, like no word was wasted or out of place. I loved how everyone was casually queer and messily all in each other's business.

So why did it take me over 2 months to read this fairly short novel? I could not tell you. Possibly it was because it often took a lot of concentration to follow and parse each sentence's meaning, and when I tend to read before bed, this would lead to me nodding off after only reading a few pages. There were a few times that the story suddenly slipped into a flashback and I wasn't sure what time the scene took place, and other times I *thought* we had flashed back but then that scene actually had been current.

But it is an absolutely gorgeous book overall. The magical elements were fascinating and very memorable. I found this parallel universe 1920's U.S. very compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Car accident

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

Vo's prose is as lovely as ever, and the magical realism elements are interesting, but the added magic and focus on Jordan are really the only major divergences from Gatsby -- overall, the story felt heavily reliant on the reader already being familiar with Gatsby (which I say as someone who is Very Normal about Gatsby), and I don't know that it really offers any more nuanced or thorough a glance at most of the characters, including Jordan. Could have definitely been a lot more fleshed out and more of a genuine retelling than effectively a companion novel, just feels a bit disjointed and shallow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and War

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Car accident

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

itsheyfay's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and War