Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

15 reviews

clarkg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While the story itself is compelling and well-written, this book has some serious problems with regards to its representations of Black, disabled, and queer people. There is a particularly gruesome depiction of Black, queer, low-income women that leans heavily on violent "welfare queen" stereotypes, made worse by the fact that the book has no positive examples of people of color in its main cast of characters. Additionally, this book contains a disability trope/storyline that I found to be in extremely poor taste. I believe in giving people grace and room to grow, but at least within the confines of this story, I wish that the author had been more mindful of how her choices work to reinforce harmful societal narratives about marginalized communities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Dementia

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, and Car accident

madladchad's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

singalana's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

danidamico's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Me gustó. La realidad es que no soy fanática de los thrillers que se apoyan tanto en revelaciones y giros inesperados, peeero de vez en cuando leo alguno para oxigenar un poco mis lecturas entre otros libros más densos. 

Debo decir que ninguno de los giros de The Burning Girls me sorprendió demasiado, sin embargo, me parece que la trama está bien desarrollada y termina teniendo cierto sentido, está construida de un modo que no resulta insoportablemente descabellado, sólo un poco, como suele ocurrir en estas novelas. 

También me interesaron algunos de los temas abordados, sobre todo el maltrato infantil y el abuso ejercido especialmente sobre niñas. Los elementos de terror que tiene funcionan bastante bien. En fin, fue una lectura decente que me mantuvo enganchada. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Suicide, and Outing

bethsbooketlist's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 - Another knock out from C J Tudor for me! I love her books but this is definitely up there as one of my faves. I loved the religious history behind this plot with some supernatural mystery and gore thrown in. I did guess the twist quite early on but it didn't affect my enjoyment whatsoever! Tudors writing is so smooth and easy to read its always a pleasure - I devoured this in 24 hours so that says enough! A great cast, full of characters you both love and hate, that kept me entertained. I can't wait to read her fifth book 😊 she will always be one of my faves 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction

scburhans's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

 Walked into this book knowing nothing but the title, and boy was it a wild ride. Overall, I thought it was pretty good book, but there were some details that I felt uncomfortable with. I did find some of the elements to be rather predictable, but there were a few twists that surprised me. I thought there were a lot of great complex characters, however, there were still some really stereotypical, 2D characters as well, which was unfortunate.

** Spoilers Below **

The biggest thing I had an issue within this book was Ruby's family. It made me really uncomfortable that the first black and gay characters we get in the book are child abusers and murderers. While I don't think the racism and homophobia from this decision was intentional - I think it was in an attempt to introduce a discussion on unconscious biases - but it still did not read well at all. Having the villain of the story fake a disability also made me incredibly uncomfortable as a disabled person. There was a lot of covert, and I hope unintentional, ableism in the story. I did, however, enjoy the rest of the book, so I did decide to give the story 3.5 stars rather than just three. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mgordon3118's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emilynicholls's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Vomit

cowgirl106's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, and Pregnancy