Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

59 reviews

unmistakablyphoenix's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Heart wrenching and hard hitting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident

annamorgan27's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

brookeisbusyreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When I first came across this book, I knew I wanted to read it because it centers around a school shooting. I wanted to read a book not COMPLETELY real but one that was important or dealt with important things. After the year in the US with our record number of mass shootings, I decided to  pick up This Is Where It Ends.

Man, I’m a mess of emotions - distraught, heartbroken, satisfied, SUPER sad, proud (of the author), and relief. It reminded me of why I don’t want many war movies…because the people behind them, like the author of this book, make you care about the characters but they don’t all make it to the end of the story. The level of horror, heroism, mature topics, and just general human complexity is stunning. It was also painful to read because of the real life shootings.

My biggest issue-that-isn’t-exactlly-an-issue with this book is the whiplash I occasionally got switching between the 4 POVs. The differences in each character helped me separate them but they cycled so frequently, it did kind of feel dizzying. Yet it also kind of worked with the pacing and tension. On the other hand, the pacing is a grey area for me on whether I like or agree with it. But that’s a minor thing I excluded from my rating criteria this once.

This Is Where It Ends is a ride wild enough to match the look in Tyler’s eyes and that’s all I’ll say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

aaashtyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It’s hard to describe how I feel after finishing this book. It’s definitely not an easy or light hearted topic to read about, and so many aspects about the story are sad. But in a way the story felt unbelievable at times, or it almost felt like Tyler was playing a game and just some of his comments felt cheesy at times, which sounds wrong but I don’t know how else to explain it. The ending wasn’t very satisfying either, and I don’t really know why. Tomás was my favorite character and I did like his story. I know this story is fictional and isn’t based on any specific shooting, but the stories and events just felt unrealistic at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Rape

lorraine19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I was expecting a chaotic, gritty, realistic view of school shooting. I was thoroughly disappointed. Instead, this reads like an overly scripted Hollywood movie. There's so many long dialogues and every character just had to have some dramatic heroic moment even if it made no sense. The type of characters didn't really match the setting. 

I don't like telling spoilers in reviews but I feel like I need to provide examples of scenes to express how unrealistic it was written....

(SPOILERS) The shooter comes in and an auditorium of a hundred students just goes completely silent. When the doors open, not a single person panics or makes a run for it. Everything is controlled and there is little chaos. Police officers find students a couple blocks from the school and BRING THEM BACK. Like what?! (SPOILERS)

Reading the author's note, they state they grew up in a different country and we're unfamiliar with school shootings. They wrote the book in order to "learn about it". Clearly they should've done more research. Insulting to anyone that's been in proximity to violence like this and does not provide a realistic or fair view of school shootings at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

joy_99's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

2.5

It was very close to being a 3 star. It wasn’t bad. Some things felt a little corny. It does show that it was written by someone who doesn’t have to experience this first hand but I appreciate the effort. Storyline did keep me wanting to read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Blood

kashrae99's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and War

acourtofstarsandmoons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This one is a solid middle of the road book for me. 

It was certainly successful in getting me to feel the intensity and the sadness in the parts where it was encouraged - deaths, during the confrontations with Tyler and everyone else. 

The writing choices took away a bit from the story though. I got confused on where we were and the step by step motions weren’t clear enough so that one minute we’re in the science room but then suddenly we’re going out the window. 

One thing that really ticked me off was Tomas’ death. It was completely needless - even more so than any death by school shooting is. He threw himself, literally, into the line of fire to give Sylv and Far more time to get out when Tyler wasn’t even where they were yet. It was completely pointless. I’m that same vein, we were never really given a reason for Tyler’s motivations behind the shooting. The author was giving very conflicted perspectives - in some he was kind and protective and tormented and then cut to raping and shooting up schools, it really just came from nowhere. 

Speaking of the rape, this was handled so poorly it should’ve been removed. For a topic as traumatising and serious as that, it needs to be elaborated upon past a single sentence mention out of nowhere. If you can’t dedicate a paragraph, at least to flesh this plot point out, don’t include it. Focus, instead, on the plot you’ve picked. 

I, thankfully, can’t relate to these situations as I’m safe and secluded in good old Australia so I’m not sure if it was the writing or the situations inspire actually reactions such as these but I felt like everyone was way too calm? Autumn especially. But this could just me a reflection of my ignorance to the subject matter. 

All in all, I’m glad to have read it, I was crushed by the deaths - Matt’s and Tomas’ specifically, but I wouldn’t reread this again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Blood

sarah_chapman's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

ecahill23's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder