Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Social Creature

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

11 reviews

murphy87's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

It's a quick read but felt slow and monotonous but I believe that may have been the point. It's not original and she could have made Louise more complex instead of just varying shades of desperate.

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aliciawithoutkeys's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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4minata's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

First half of the book is frivolously slow and grandiose. Second is gritty and unexpected. The writing tackles the lofty goal of interjecting internet consciousness into natural language and falls short of this at times but the story itself is exciting and is a biting critique on the blurred boundaries of identity in the digital age.

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whimsicalish's review against another edition

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dark fast-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

1.5

This is not the worst book I have read this year. It has an over-the-top story, horrid cast of characters, and the twist is spoiled by its own damned self. Maybe it wasn't for me.

Although, spoiling the twist in the second chapter is a very odd choice. It straight up tells you what happens... in the second chapter. Why would you do that? You removed any and all suspense leading up to that moment. I don't want a book to tell me what's going to happen. I want to experience it myself.

All of the characters feel like caricatures. They don't feel real like real people. The main character, Louise, does start off human and relatable. Sadly after the second half of the book, she's just as exaggerated. One dimension characters. One is popular and everyone wants her. One is socially desperate. One gets attention with his homophobic slurs and sexist jokes. And ultimately everyone excuses it because they're all rich and vain, stepping on each other to be number one.

And it's perfectly fine to write a book with shitty people. Shitty people exist. But when they are all uninteresting and have the same basic personality, it's boring. At a certain point, I do not care what happens to them. I don't want them to succeed.

The ending was completely unsatisfying for me. I don't understand why this went the direction that it did. The writing wasn't great either. Odd breaks in scenes and the strange invisible narrator telling me what is happening in the story that I am reading. Some questionable choices here.

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