Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom

30 reviews

ecox180's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow, what a powerful debut novel! Aesthetica tells the story of Anna, a 35 year-old woman who is about to undergo a risky cosmetic procedure that will reverse all of her previous surgeries. While she’s waiting for the surgery, she reflects on her past, when, at 19, she left her mother in Houston and headed to LA to try and make it as an Instagram model. This book is beautifully written, evocative, and explores the dark underbelly of social media influencing. It also touches on mother-daughter relationships and the pressure of societal beauty standards. I really look forward to seeing what Allie Rowbottom writes next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault

ohennui's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lowbrowhighart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Car accident

jennastopreading's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

b_fruits's review against another edition

3.75

Rowbottom has crafted a painful look into the tribulations of being young and beautiful in the modern age, but falls short of saying anything new. The plastic surgery-reversal conceit is clever and the narrator is hard not to become attached to. Ultimately, more needed to be done to separate it from the very real stories one encounters every day online. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Drug use, and Sexual assault

tigger89's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is a lot in a very small package. I went into it thinking it would be more of a sci-fi medical horror title, but there was very little focus on the Aesthetica procedure itself. Rather, the focus of the story was on Anna's descent into social media addiction, body alteration and abuse. Aesthetica was an off-screen plot device, a method by which to press a magical reset button.

Something I appreciated about this title was how realistic the portrayal of social media addiction was, specifically the slide into seeing everything — no matter how personal — as something to be exploited for internet points. I've never gone for instagram, but I've experienced enough dopamine hits on other platforms to recognize the danger there. She was also spot-on when describing diet culture, particularly how it's passed inter-generationally from mother to daughter. The way this was written was chilling enough that it could be a source of horror to some, though it was a little too close to my own experiences growing up for it to land that way for me.

I don't think that I agree with what appears to be the author's message, that women can't be truly empowered when under misogynistic influences — which is all of us, everywhere, all the time. But this argument winds up removing agency from the oppressed even as it claims to protect it, as it merely replaces those harmful influences with a different set of boilerplate rules for "how to be empowered," which might not be a good fit for every individual! I think the concerns raised in this book are good to be aware of, as it certainly is a thing that happens, but there's no clear answer here with regard to what to actually do to fight this effect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Infertility

booked_with_meg's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, and Sexual content

shannonigans322's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

Oof, what a ride. Ironic, that I'm posting this review to Instagram, given the focus of the novel. I honestly wouldn't recommend it, unless you want to feel bummed out and super icky about social media. The premise of the book obviously points forth some valid observations that I'm not quite ready to explore. CW for SA, drug use, death of a loved one, body image/dysmorphia, disordered eating 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Sexual assault

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

I feel like the book box I got this from mis-represented the book. This book is not about the procedure. The procedure is covered in a single paragraph about 2/3 of the way through the book. This is about a very specific 6 month or so period of Anna's life that is supposed to give the reader an idea of why she wanted this procedure. It seemed very tech dystopian when I was reading the summary, but it's not. It's very literary and sad. I love the author's writing, but this isn't what I expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, and Mental illness

freshprincessofmelayers's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Eating disorder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape