Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

20 reviews

passionatereader78's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable read! I liked the overall writing. I loved the young Zelda and her carefree lifestyle.  By the end of the book I didn't like the way Scott treated Zelda.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

lauramcc7's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, War, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

This was really fun! Of course it’s historical fiction and we will never really know what exactly Zelda experienced, but I love her. I identify closely with her struggles and loved walking through her whole life with her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Sexism, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

mezzano's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Mental illness, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, and Sexism

chasingpages1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death, Grief, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: War, Abandonment, Blood, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Infertility, Cancer, Dysphoria, and Racism

bobbeym's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad 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

3.0

I enjoyed this book, but I wanted to love it much more than I actually did.  The story is told strictly from Zelda's point of view, and provides an interesting fictional account of what her life with husband F. Scott Fitzgerald might have been like.   I'd love to read some biographies of her life because my impression was that Scott took advantage of her youthful naivety to turn her into a living character, only to later resent her for it.

I give this a 3/5 stars but I'm not sure it's something I'd recommend unless someone was looking for something similar or asked specifically about this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, and Alcoholism

zeldamazzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, and Eating disorder

hayley_mariep's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Misogyny, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Violence, War, Abortion, Chronic illness, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

piperclover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

I went into this thinking I would hate it but I came out of it recommending it to everyone. It's a character and relationship study more than anything else so there's no gripping plot and instead you're just listening to the chronological story of her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald  As if Zelda was telling it as a story to say a grandchild. From a story perspective, Zelda as a character is so interesting and I really loved her and by the end I hated Scott so desperately.  Zelda is so self aware and she questions her own motives and justifications in the context of the 1920s and 30's which is just a really interesting look at women in the time period. 


So interesting, the narrator is fantastic, and even though there's no real plot, I was still enjoying every chapter because the writing style is so easy to sink into. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Medical content, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexism, Abortion, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual assault

The alcoholism, cheating, and medical content are basically the entire last half of the book. I think by our standards we would say that Scott was abusive and manipulative but I don't think that in the time period he would have been labeled of that so I'm not sure if it's fair to put that warning in the tags?

hunkydory's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Death, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Suicide