Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

22 reviews

mthornburg13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mionnechan's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

"À quel moment force-t-on la note, à quel moment va-t-on trop loin?" 

Voilà la citation qui résume à la perfection ce roman.
 Parce qu'on contemple les conséquences de l'humanité sur une Terre pas si lointaine de la notre. Des effets météorologiques extrêmes, plus rien, plus de civilisation.. Juste Snowman. Le dernier homme. 
 C'était une lecture difficile par tous les sujets qu'elle aborde, parce que - contrairement à ce que j'avais pensé - nous n'avons pas un récit d'un nouveau monde mais de la chute de l'ancien. À travers les souvenirs fugaces, flous et désorientés de Snowman, on comprend que les humains allaient droit dans le mur depuis très longtemps, mais que le coup degrâce a été porté par une unique chose.

Un autre homme, Cracker, qui est pourtant à la base de la nouvelle civilisation, celle de ces humanoïdes naïfs et sans défauts, du moins pour le moment. Nous avons également Onyx et tout ce qui l'entoure. Son histoire m'a vraiment mis mal à l'aise (je sais que c'était l'effet recherché) mais je ne m'attendais pas à tomber sur de la pédophilie décrite si crûement.

J'ai eu du mal à rentrer dans le récit, mais je pense avoir du mal avec la plume d'Atwoodmême si j'adore ces récits de dévstations qu'elle nous livre. Le passage du passé au présent était logique, mais m'a dérangée au final.
 Il était pour ainsi dire impossible de s'attacher au personnage principal, même avant la fin. 

Quoi qu'il en soit, cette lecture m'a bouleversée par les similitudes qu'elle a avec notre réalité, et par ce qu'elle cherche à faire.
 Je ne sais pas si je lirais la suite, mais cette lecture m'a beaucoup fait réfléchir. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Medical content

mybestfriendsarefictional's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

khurelchuluun's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I honestly enjoyed it a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

pizzaguise's review

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Pandemic/Epidemic

toniboni's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

earthtomanda's review

adventurous dark funny

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. My first full-length Atwood novel, and I am amazed at just how many aspects of humanity she is able to capture. While the plot should seem fantastical, she stays firmly in the plausible and (perhaps) the likely. Many scenes are incredibly graphic though, so tread lightly if that’s a concern — Going through the content warnings, it was hard to find something that wasn’t at least mentioned in this book.

I did struggle with how prominent discussion of sexual abuse towards children was. It was incredibly disturbing. I am still grappling with why that was a necessary inclusion — though it is Atwood, and I’m sure it was not done without some thought. Also, Jimmy can fight me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

This book gives me a weird sense of nostalgia, I read it for the first time at 17/18 and it was my first foray into speculative fiction. 

I think it's the perfect combo of speculative fiction, interesting writing, characterization, intriguing plot, and weirdness.

The only bad thing about this book is that you can never get the first reading experience back once you know what happened to the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, Excrement, Alcohol, and War

Child sexual abuse/ trafficking

vetrina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

What a great book! I absolutely loved the writing style and how Atwood switched between past and present timelines seamlessly. The world-building and plot is amazing, very dark, and shocking. It's a great critique of capitalism, eugenics/genetic engineering, technology, the pharmaceutical industry, classism, and climate change. And it's a great exploration of human nature in general too. Very excited to read the next book (The Year of the Flood).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, War, and Classism

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Maggie A youre such a slay
What an icon
This is quite fucked and and quite fucking wonderful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic