Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

40 reviews

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

the greatest book i have ever read 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality

jessa1489's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

lottiegasp's review against another edition

dark funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is a beautifully written coming-of-age story of precocious  Eli Bell, whose parents struggle at various times with substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse and financial insecurity, and as such Eli Bell is forced to grow up too soon and look after himself and his family. It demonstrates how no one is fully good or bad, but can try to make good choices. It depicts the insidiousness of substance abuse and drug dealing in the context of low income and overcriminalised communities who are unable to escape from their intergenerationally-entrenched dangerous lives.

Despite it being quite long, it was readable and compelling from start to end. It moved between some witty moments, to highly poignant and sad events, to episodes of thrilling action. I would caution readers to check the content warnings, as it is quite a depressing setting with heavy themes, however with that in mind I would say that overall the book is surprisingly uplifting.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Car accident, and Death of parent

erinsmithart's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Violence

livlovread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Murder

worldthroughcurls's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse

crazysecondname's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

der anfang war ein bisschen zäh irgendwie aber das ende war gut
der letzte satz war dann wieder unnötig deswegen kann ich keone 4 sterne geben naja

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Drug abuse

ezex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Amazing book. Beautifully written. Just wondrous to read. Riveting story and characters. I didn’t realise how much it would increase my enjoyment reading about places that I knew, but my understanding was deeper and I was more invested knowing Brisbane as I do. It’s like I was there. What a fantastic book. 

At first I thought there would be no way I’d be interested in the subject matter. But the story it told with such lightness and hope. It really is a beautiful piece of work. One of my favourite reads of the year. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Violence

atringas's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

This novel contains multitudes. Truly hard to describe, and honestly I’m struggling to quantify my feels about it myself. Beautiful in its imagery, brutal in its realism, touching, mystical, realistic, exciting, slow, there is a bit of everything going on in “Boy Swallows Universe”.
The book truly reads almost more like a number of smaller novels together as it chronicles the life of Eli Bell, and is mostly stronger for it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Xenophobia

100percent_ballerina's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use