Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

180 reviews

othersociologist's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism

jully_bean's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

taratearex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

This was so great, it had me staying up late wanting to just keep reading and also scared I was going to have nightmares and wishing I hadn't read it at night. It's legit very scary, so creepy and chilling, and the way he drags out a scene that you know is just going to explode is such torture (complimentary). There are many threads being woven through this story and many POV's, I doubled back a few times to make sure I was grasping things, he's dropping hints and references throughout, it's worth it to stop and try to get your bearings, slow down and sink into the story. I can see how people could get lost if you're sort of passively engaging with this or aren't into trying to weave together all the pieces. I honestly can't wait for a reread. I will say the gore is hard to stomach at times and if you're at all sensitive to pet death this may not be the one for you, the descriptions can be brutal! (I know, I know I'm reading horror, but I block gore with my hands when I'm watching TV lol)

CW: racism, violence/murder/death of humans and animals (dogs, elk), very descriptive gore, hunting, alcoholism, parent death, child death, hate crime 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

drymice's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

gracecrandall's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime

More on the hate crime trigger tag

the book opens with a man dying at the hands of a small mob, mostly racially motivated. The actual violence isn't described, but the potential for it is gone over in the character's mind several times in the scene. There are other parts of the book where hate crimes of varying intensity against indigenous people are mentioned or talked about as normal occurances.

niddy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

throwback682's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The ending was a tearjerker for me. 

Shout out to Chuck Tingle for introducing me to this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

kellsbells374's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

In terms of craft, I think this book is really well done. I have two things that held me back from giving this 5 stars. 
1. The pace felt a little off at times. I think it came from switching between "protagonists" but it took me out of the story a bit. 
2. For a book that had sortve a revenge plot where a female character was exacting revenge on men who did something shitty, there certainly were a LOT of women who got killed (horribly) as collateral damage. I feel like that maybe fit the horror genre but it kept making me frustrated because I couldn't relate to the "antagonist" destroying all these women almost as pawns or punishment for the men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

devinjai6655's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child death

heynonnynonnie's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

A decade after a hunting transgression, a supernatural entity haunts a group of Blackfeet men and starts taking them and their loved ones out one by one. 

This was very meh for me. I love the concept. I mean, indigenous supernatural karmic war sounds metal as hell for a horror book, and the first chapter smashed my expectations. It's a perfect combination of concept, style, and pacing. But the next 100 or so pages moves at such a slow pace before giving the reader sporadic moments of action. The voice takes some effort to fully appreciate and can be cumbersome during the slower parts of the story. I didn't care for the basketball scenes and their inclusion left me confused. I'm holding out hope for this author's other works because there were several chapters that were 5 star standalones for me, and I'm so in love with the concepts from his books.  

TW: Animal death (hunting and pets), animal cruelty, murder, gore, violence, racism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, and Alcohol