Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

17 reviews

cmklaft's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Spoiler

Main character and obsessive relationship with child unnecessary to plot and honestly obnoxious. I don't need to read that you breastfeeding every other page, got it your child it hungry thanks for all the unnecessary details with 0 value added. Plot was predictable, no wow factor, slow slow start that just seemed to drag everything out.  So many holes in the story.  Major details compared to previous novels

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Addiction, Animal death, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death

xkwright's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Cancer, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Deportation

sylvestra's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Incest, Toxic friendship, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Eating disorder

cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Eating disorder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, and Grief

katymat18'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Animal death, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

nicday19's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

loandbeholdx's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Suicide, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Addiction and Eating disorder

waytoomanybooks's review

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

4.0

I rarely read mysteries, but I am so glad I picked up this one! The emotions Isa and her three friends go through are palpable. And I greatly appreciate the fact that the women had goals, ambitions, fears, hopes, etc. that went beyond being wives and mothers, even though most of them are wives and mothers. They felt fully fleshed out, complex, and interesting. It's a great boarding school, dark academia story told from the perspective of an adult looking back on her harrowing teenage years. 

I took off one star because the ending is a bit confusing and a little ambiguous considering the amount of detail that went in the rest of the novel.

Be mindful of the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

rubybooks's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I read The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Death of Mrs Westaway earlier on this year, so I thought I'd try reading The Lying Game too. All these audiobooks are narrated by Imogen Church - I didn't have too much of a problem with the audiobooks but it does make them all blend together in my head. My opinions on these books have varied wildly - I really liked The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Woman in Cabin 10 was okay, and The Lying Game is my least favourite. 

The Lying Game focuses on a group of four girls who met at boarding school as teenagers, where they played 'The Lying Game' and generally got into a lot of trouble. They were all expelled as teenagers after the death of the art teacher, Kate's father, but didn't see each other much after that. That all changes when Isa, Thea, and Fatima receive an SOS text from Kate after something is discovered in Salten. The book is told from Isa's point of view. 

I found the relationships between all the women really interesting to read about. All of them are complicated and flawed, and I liked seeing the flashbacks of how their time at Salten shaped them. I wish we'd seen more of the flashbacks and I think it would have improved my experience reading it! Even though I liked seeing the characters interact, they did annoy me. Some of Isa's point of view was repetitive which got a bit annoying, and I just didn't like her character. She made some really odd decisions with her baby and I really didn't like the way she acted with Owen.

I kept expecting something more from this book - it took quite a while for the plot to get going (it's VERY much a slow burn) and I thought it would be more dramatic. I'm mainly interested because I thought the twists would go in a different direction. It was very underwhelming and since most of the big events happened in the past, it didn't feel like a thriller. I don't think the plot is that compelling because the story unfolds so slowly. Maybe if the plot twist and action at the end was a but more shocking, I may have enjoyed the book more, but that wasn't the case.

So overall, I didn't hate this book but I just felt apathetic about most of it and I was very underwhelmed by where the plot went. There are a lot of mixed reviews though, so don't let my review put you off. The book was short enough that I didn't have a problem finishing it, but it still took me longer than a thriller normally would because I wasn't that invested. Be aware of content including descriptions of parental death, drug use, eating disorders and alcoholism.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Eating disorder

kaylasoos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Self harm, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, and Incest

Minor: Drug abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Animal death