Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

15 reviews

kkpines's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

3.25

The book's beauty was undeniable, but it didn't quite spark the emotional connection I craved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racial slurs

samiisteffenn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Abortion

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

mitchelljohnson's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

Joan Didion is mostly know for her non-fiction, and I think I understand why. 

The book is good. But that’s it. The content is a bit hard to stomach at points, the plot is nonexistent, but the writing is great. I liked the premise and how it was executed, but I don’t think Didion was great with fiction, or maybe it was this book in particular.

I found myself forgetting characters, because none of them are really memorable. I found myself not understanding what was happening because of how much the book jumped around. I was a bit confused. 

I might try her non-fiction, because her writing is very skillful and she really knows how to get a message across in as little words as possible. Her journalism background really shines in that aspect, but it makes it harsh to read as fiction. I would re-read sections constantly because I didn’t fully grasp one line, putting me off track.

I was disappointed, but I believe that there are points in your life where a book is more meaningful to you, so this just might not have been the right time for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Chronic illness

3mi1y's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was very short and an extremely fast read. All in all it’s a great book with an interesting writing style. I liked that we only get little insights of what’s going on in her life

and the events that led to her commitment to a mental hospital

. That’s what made the book different from others and therefore pretty special in my opinion. :) It even felt a bit like I’d be reading her diary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief

mmefish's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.5

She wanted to tell him she was sorry, but saying she was sorry did not seem entirely adequate, and in any case what she was sorry about seemed at once too deep and too evanescent for any words she knew, seemed so vastly more complicated than the immediate fact that it was perhaps better left unraveled.

An addicting story (thanks to the prose) about shallow people and their shallow lives. And mental illness. Reminded me a bit of "The Bell Jar".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent

ktkeps's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

lenaschrn's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Addiction

flara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This was an intense read. Like a tornado, it came out of nowhere. It kept on gaining intensity until it swept me away. There are passages in this book that are brutally sharp; they might as well cut through me. I understood Kate, her feelings.. or lack thereof. I believe Play It As It Lays was set in the 1960s, and yet it didn't feel aged. It felt very contemporary, disturbingly so. I enjoyed every single page of this very confusing, very tense, very dark novel. It's one of very few books that I regretted having finished reading.

I have this funny thing with Didion: every book that I have picked up so far ended up being very on theme. First I read The Magical Year of Thinking, and felt I could not relate due to lack of life experience with grief. Not a month later my grandfather became gravely ill, and died shortly after. That's when I picked up Blue Nights. Kate has an illegal abortion in Play It As It Lays, which I started reading just as Roe v Wade has been overturned. Crazy how a book from 60 years ago could be so relevant to the current affairs of today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

streamthief's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

Got this at a bookstore in Chicago and had finished it in 24 hours I loved it so much 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship