Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

272 reviews

anna_17793's review

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Physical abuse

encharro's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

knowledgeable_but_stupid's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

It was a wonderful book, in my opinion. I immediately bought this one after reading Young Mungo. He writes so vividly that I can imagine every scene and use his descriptions to fill in the blanks in my mind in a most natural way. A lot of topics were the same as in Young Mungo, but this one touched more on the perspective of the alcoholic mother and it was written as more of a life story. The repetition compared to the other book made it feel a bit predictable at times, but to be fair, this one was his first novel. Maybe I should’ve read them in the correct order. I enjoyed the way he described bad things in a good way and good things in a bad way. It’s like he doesn’t try to make his work “fancy” like many writers do. Last point is that I expected the phonetically written dialogues to be difficult to read, but this wasn’t the case at all. Again, it’s a very naturally written story and it was great to be able to immerse myself in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

clemencepct's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

avareadsoccasionally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Really well written and heartbreaking. I thought the characters were well written and the author balanced hope and despair in a really good way. It took me a little longer to get through, but was worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

writingcaia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Rape

megb64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

pawtory's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Honestly the most depressing thing I've ever read (maybe I Gevalia avoid that but good god). Realistic to the point of hopelessness. I know terrible people and situations exist but there was no relief here for Shuggie. I think he had a handful of people shown his life who weren't completely  awful? It was well written, but if I could tell past me to skip this one I would. The content warnings are quite serious. I would only rec this book if you  need to read about stuff that's so awful anything in your life will seem better in comparison...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Terminal illness and Religious bigotry

readingslumpx's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

elharpwhy's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Classism