Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Pretend I'm Dead by Jen Beagin

15 reviews

questionablereads's review against another edition

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

4.0

dark, weird girl lit, complete with messy thoughts and behavior ... I probably shouldn't have laughed as much as I did, but I did
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sallyrooneystanclub's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

4.5

All the trigger warnings. Do I love or hate this. Dark. Tbf I found it by googling unhinged female books and I guess that's what I got. 
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janey_bones's review

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

4.0

My book reviews are not about what is considered good writing etc. This was a fun read. Jen writes in a really witty and humorous way. The characters are always a little weird. I enjoyed Big Swiss more but this was still a good read.
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callie_1031's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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jolearra's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective 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

Loved this book. Reminds me a lot of Chuck Palaniuk’s writing. 
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sakisreads's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Well this was a RIDE 😂 I wasn’t expecting all of these adventures with Mona.
Mr. Disgusting really did her dirty, BUT in saying that I had a lot of love for him 🥲
Being a recovering drug addict must be dehabilitiating. Not having had that experience before, I can only imagine the worst…


I also loved Yoko and Yoko (Nigel and Shiori); love like that really does exist I guess 😂 Looking into the sunset with your loved one also sounds like a dream 🙂‍↔️

Betty and John brought out an intriguing reaction in me. As I’m noticing my own attachments, I could tell this one was toxic, yet a tiny voice in my head kept saying ‘How complex and interesting though! Where will this go!’ 😳 
(I’m going to go work through that I suppose 😅)

Mona’s daddy issues also got me tripping. What the fuck was up with Mickey!


Overall, 4 out of 5 stars for me thank you ✨ I will include content warnings below!
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laurakfinnegan's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective fast-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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starsandgutters's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

I love female protagonists who feel like they’re constantly toeing the precipice of entirely unhinged.

More vibes than plot, and most of the plot tends to be the unfolding of other people’s lives that Mona is just a witness to, nicely enforcing how stagnant and stuck she feels in her life.

Very strong narrative voice, and some absolute BANGERS of lines in here.

Darkly humorous, quietly perceptive, keenly human in the grittiest ways. 

Would have rated this higher for the writing, but minus points for unnecessary use of slurs and racism - kept waiting for a consequence to this but it never came, and personally feel there’s never a need for authors to be throwing around slurs they can’t reclaim.
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arianaf's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective 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

4.0

"Usually she enjoyed a good oven cleaner buzz, but just then she wanted to pull a Sylvia Plath."

Who else read this because of the big hole left by Big Swiss? This one, way darker, darker themes, darker characters but the same kind of humour and mundane descriptions of a day-to-day life of a mentally unstable woman, that (hopefully) you can't relate in many levels, but you're still rooting for her.
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annajoyreed93's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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