Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

5 reviews

hannah_beth_charles's review against another edition

hopeful reflective 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

2.5

I found myself skipping paragraphs because some of the metaphors were so boring and unnecessary that I found it was a waste of time. I also hated Picoult's writing style and the way she made the men's POVs full of vulgar language or shallow thoughts, like "boys will be boys".

I think that Anna's death was Jesse's punishment for starting fires and putting other's lives at risk. It's not fair for him to just be let off without punishment. The ending was quite surprising but and almost lazy. There's no way that Anna would have an unstrained relationship with her parents after she tried to sue them, and Kate's death would be blamed on Anna. Anna needed to die for the story to conclude. Kate becoming a ballet teacher is unrealistic and I know it was her dream, but she hadn't done ballet before, and ballet isn't a sport you can just do. It takes years of training.  

I couldn't care less Campbell and Julia's relationship. They're both toxic and Julia is desperate to be different. Julias losing her virginity on a gravestone was just odd.

I hated that throughout the novel, Sara was trying to be redeemed as a good mother or at least trying her best in a complicated situation. She had Anna just to save Kate. She probably wouldn't have had Anna if Kate wasn't sick. What irked me most was at the end when she said that she would send her one child in a fire to save the other child and she was willing to risk losing them both. That is so selfish because Sara sacrificing their lives. That's not fair and is plain wrong. She is not put in any danger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Car accident

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

obsessor_of_books's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ande13's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

3.5

A little long, a little predictable (yes, even the ending), but overall a good read. It definitely raises a lot of good and difficult questions, even 20 years after it’s original publication. The author does a fantastic job of capturing what it’s like to love you family but still want to do what’s right for you - all the conflicting emotions but still feeling the burning love for the people around you. I would have given 4 stars, but I think there was some extra “stuff” that could have been excluded

like the love story between Campbell and Julia and all their history…

but it didn’t totally distract from the main story, so I guess it’s kind of a wash. Just there to make the book longer imo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

erma_z's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Alcohol

aimeal815's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I wouldn’t say I’m upset with this book, because I thought the story was really interesting, but I am definitely upset with aspects of it. I found it very difficult to read at times because I was having trouble sympathizing with a lot of the characters. It felt like some of the conflicts were very needless

such as the whole thing with Campbell and Julia

. I also found the ending incredibly upsetting. I know that that was the whole point, but it felt almost ridiculous.

It made me feel almost like I wasted my time following Anna’s whole story for it to just be thrown away at the end like that.

That being said, it was a very complex plot with a lot of complex characters, and I can appreciate that because that’s just how life is. It’s just that there were too many parts of it that I had trouble with in order to really love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Excrement, and Alcohol