Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

8 reviews

pomoevareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

And Then She Fell by Mohawk author Alicia Elliott is both simple and complex in its structure. It begins with a Mohawk woman (Alice) marrying a white man who studies indigenous culture, moves off the rez to a posh Toronto neighbourhood and has a baby. Alice struggles to connect to her daughter and descends into a psychosis where she believes others are out to take her daughter away from her. Then the story changes to one that takes place inside the time space web where each string is a different path and has a different outcome. The story becomes more difficult here as the characters mingle within the multiverse. Alice is guided to complete writing the Haudenosaunee Creation story which will affect future generations. Although future is also now, complex as you might see. 

For personal reasons, this book took me almost a week to finish reading and likely because of this I dropped parts of the thread now and then. Elliott writes in her acknowledgements that she has her own personal story of being disconnected. I felt the urge of the character of Alice within the prose as she battled against herself. 

I enjoyed reading the author’s matrilineal characters’ stories and how each woman was supported by the others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, and Alcohol

drownedinfictionx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

L

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Alcohol, Medical content, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Gore, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

natalietan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Addiction, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

brit_is_reading's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

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

2.0

To be totally honest, I nearly DNF'd this more than once in the time it took me to read. But once I hit about 64%, I decided to see it all the way through.

 While I was interested in the themes that Alicia Elliott was exploring in the first half of the book, I found the back half to fully descend into madness (which, I understand, is part of the plot), but was largely difficult to follow and understand.

I don't think I'm unable to explore dense material, but it just came across like there were so many interesting ideas here, and just one or two couldn't be decided upon - so it had to be all of them.

The end in particular, while I found it to be sweet as an idea, felt wholly out of place in comparison to the rest of the novel.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably skip this one. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Blood, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Cannibalism

evawondergem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Racism, and Mental illness

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Alcohol, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, Drug use, Mental illness, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Genocide, Vomit, Addiction, Death of parent, Classism, and Death

Minor: Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Car accident, Bullying, Self harm, Confinement, Suicide, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Police brutality, and War

Mention of MMIWG2S, residential schools.

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Thanks to Dutton Books for the free copy of this book.

 - AND THEN SHE FELL is what I might categorize as literary horror. Elliott blends a variety of types of horror - of motherhood, of racism, of literal monsters and voices in your head - into an incredible tapestry of a book.
- Much of this book is built on the tension of Alice (and the reader) trying to sort out if the things she's experiencing are real, or if she's losing her mind. But something happens in the last few chapters that takes everything to a whole new level. I was reading with my mouth open, not wanting it to end.
- The more I think on this book, the more layers I find in it. I hope you'll seek it out, even if you aren't typically a horror reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Blood, Racism, Drug abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

And Then She Fell touched on and went deep into hard topics surrounding PPD, being the birthing parent, mental illness and racism against Native persons. There are words in the Mohawk language which I didn’t know them and had to look up, which resulted in either finding the meaning or not finding anything...there's no guide in the book on what most of them mean or proper pronunciation. 
Anyways, this was a good book, I personally don't class this as Horror, but I recommend it if you want to read a psychological thriller.

Also, please make sure you read all TW/CW.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Alcohol, Violence, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Child death, Cancer, and Vomit

Minor: Murder, Abortion, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Rape