Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

8 reviews

carlatemis's review against another edition

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

4.5


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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

I hated this book for most of it. I also expected to find out I was being gaslighted by Mike’s perspective. I won’t say if it did to avoid spoilers, but I will give it a four because I get what the author is trying to say. It’s a book I’d want all my girls to read in college as a cautionary tale of the fragile male ego and the darkness that has been fostered in them by systemic patriarchy , with the understanding that protagonist is an extreme example. I also find this title clever in that the “Our” presumably includes the reader and society at large.

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lemurdance's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mike Hayes is lucky enough to have met the love of his life in college. Unfortunately, the horrors of his childhood, first with an abusive mother and then the subsequent years in foster care, have permanently altered his perception of healthy love and relationships. When he meets Verity, he knows it is forever. Their relationship is rife with mindgames, secret signals, and intensity that Mike clings to even after their breakup and all the way through the tragedy that rips through their new lives.

What begins as the sweet stories of a man deeply in love with his partner gradually reveals itself to be a first-person narrative of an escalating stalker. Mike's earnestness is almost ingratiating to the reader, as he insists everything that's happened since they broke up, including V's marriage, is part of an elaborate puzzle she has set up for him. Were we reading this from V's perspective, everything in me would scream RED FLAGS to her; instead we are stuck waiting to see what Mike's delusions will lead to next.

This tale evoked feelings of sympathy, pity, disgust, hopefulness, and horror. It is truly a rollercoaster from beginning to end and is a prime example of a psychological thriller in all the best ways.

I almost didn't want to love this book because of how emotionally difficult it was at times, but it is so exquisitely dark and twisty that I have nothing but praise for Araminta Hall and can't wait to read more from her.

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reading_oncoffee's review

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

3.0

I really enjoyed reading this..but the ending killed it for me. 
It was like reading a completely different book at the end in a way that just felt forced. I read in the acknowledgements that she talked with a lawyer to get legal advice for the writing of this book and i think in doing that she lost her writing style at the end and it was like she copy and pasted something else in. It was very strange and defiruined the "psychological thriller"-Ness of this novel for me
 
The rest, however, was amazing. I love the structure of this novel, I think it was very smart to write this in parts and not chapters. It really made you feel like your reading a diary entry or a transcribed interview which for this type of story really sucked you in and kept you there. The best way I can describe it is as reading a news article about a tragedy I have no connection to in anyway but still feeling the need to know every detail and read the whole thing and then subscribe for updates. It was usurping! 

Spoiler up ahead about another problem I had throughout out the book revolving Mike as a person.
I can't help but mention Mike's mental health. As you read this you will notice he is definitely mentally ill. He seems very out of touch with reality and every time Verity says one thing he somehow twists it to mean something else entirely. Everytime she says he needs to move on he hears "I still love you" which is not..normal...and for this to be literally the whole backbone of the story I find it extremely disturbing and strange that no one thought to push him to get help or even get law enforcement or something involved to force him.to go because he was very obviously unwell. I understand he didn't come off as a violent person but I can't comprehend how his foster mom heard him saying he and Verity are still getting back together after he literally went to her wedding and thought "oh he's harmless". Like it wasn't violent but that is a very clear sign of illness and being out of touch with reality. There were many more signs like this, and actually his foster mom even specifically asks him if maybe his perception of reality was different from Verity's and when he answered that wasn't possible and that she still loves her, his foster mom just shrugs her shoulders and says "ok..have a nice day"...I understand that if he got help the whole plot would disintegrate but something about him being ill not even being MENTIONED just made the whole novel seem unrealistic. Someone would have said something. A mother figure would have been more concerned. 
I also didn't care for how political the court hearing got, and again after reading the acknowledgement she does say that this book was written in lieu of "the continued injustices perpetrated against women in our so-called civilized society." I don't know the context behind that statement (she also admits this novel was written in a "mad spurt of anger") but the attempt to squeeze in some politics in the very monotone and out of place court hearing just disconnected that whole part of the book from the rest of it. In that way, it ruined the ending for me, and I really wish it hadn't because I loved this whole story!

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hufflesnoot's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.0

I read the whole book waiting for something to happen. But it never really did. There wasn't any suspense and I just didn't care about the characters at all. It got repetitive real quick and it was so slow paced, that I had trouble finishing this book.

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fbzreadswhatever's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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shoshin's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

2.5

The premise was intriguing. The treatment of the stalking victim after the climactic scene was sadly realistic. It was an interesting look into the imagined psychology of a stalker, but it somehow didn't quite ring true to me.

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pinkberryoasis's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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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