Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Ghost Eaters

Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

84 reviews

ronanqk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.25

This book was very inventive and novel. The prose was solid, though not mind blowing. It’s one of those books where I was invested to see how it turned out, not because I saw myself in any of the characters (which obviously is my own personal experience), but it felt like a read out of morbid curiosity and a desire for horror rather than catharsis, character development, or life lessons. It’s definitely a horror book, though I found the grotesqueness of it well-executed. It was always for the sake of the story, never to simply shock a reader. And while the characters were almost all repulsive in their own ways, they were also deeply real and the main character, Erin, is a sympathetic narrator. It’s a fascinating take on a narrative about addiction, recovery, and relationships. Often, the primary metaphor of the novel was over explained and lost its mystique, but it still rang true. The epilogue was overly expository, but that is in fairly high contrast to the rest of the book.
If you’ve spent any prolonged time in Richmond, VA, this book will trigger your nostalgia for that very special place.

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theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was the most frustrating book I've read in a long while. The writing style is good, the concept is interesting, and the horror is very effective. But...the main character and the plot trajectory are both kind of awful. One of my biggest pet peeves in books is when the main character just has the plot happen to them. They're not making decisions that move things forward, they just stand by and things sort of happen around them. This was very much the case for Erin. Every time it seemed like she was going to finally actually make a choice, she just falls right back into the same place she just came from. I don't necessarily think this was an inaccurate way to portray someone battling an addiction, but in this case it made it difficult for me to really engage with the plot; it became very repetitive and tedious to watch Erin make the same choices over and over with the same results. Not my favourite.

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pnainellii's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

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santaggy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

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bombonita's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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jasminenicholas's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Grief is not a 5 step process and I understand what the author was looking to achieve. However, this was a terrible read. When a writer uses profanities & passive language throughout, I find it’s lazy writing. I do appreciate this was written in the first person, however, it felt very amateur. The theme of addiction is a tricky one to get right and this missed the mark - it dealt with it at surface level. I really wanted to like this book after reading reviews online, but it failed to succeed.

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herlvr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

i enjoyed it for the most part. i feel like while it portrayed addiction very well it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. i feel like this is a very solid 4 - 3.5 star book.

also, fuck silas and that stupid baby.

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