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Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'
The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anna-Marie Crowhurst
1 review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I'm left with a lasting uncertainty about this book, maybe where the first half felt immensely tedious and things only picked up once they arrived in London. I'm grateful to another reviewer for that little light at the end of the tunnel because I was quite ready to quit and be done with it before that point.
It's a coming-of-age novel, and I usually struggle with these when there isn't a great mystery or adventure to string things along neatly. Ursula's a fairly endearing character, although a fairly annoying child, and to be extremely fair, she's dealt a horrible hand to work with. I can't tell if her mother hated her, or if she hated her life in general, but that relationship cast a shadow over the early stages of the book.Especially the caning, which left me with a very bitter taste, since it was being done because the poor child didn't care to marry a man 20 years her senior? I mean, lady, you've got some serious issues upstairs. I guess that set the scene for Ursula's own emotional scarring throughout the rest of the book, but it felt very... raw, I suppose. The letters to her mother early into her marriage, answered so very rarely, were particularly harrowing.
Ursula's descent into depression while she tries to put up with the mother-in-law from hell, a sister-in-law that comes as a close second, as well as her preachy husband and his weird kinks... I suppose we're not meant to kink shame, but the man was effectively trying to groom the poor child into indulging his kinks entirely without her consent, and it was majorly yucky I get it. She deals with it admirably, but wow, it's heavy stuff.
Things get a bit better as they start the London segment, mainly because there seems to be a bit more plot rather than characterization now. It made the book more enjoyable, although there's a grim segment here as well. And even if Ursula comes out of the entire thing with something she actually wanted, I can't help thinking that it was a particularly grim tale overall.
3.5⭐ on account of the fact that it picked up in the second half.
It's a coming-of-age novel, and I usually struggle with these when there isn't a great mystery or adventure to string things along neatly. Ursula's a fairly endearing character, although a fairly annoying child, and to be extremely fair, she's dealt a horrible hand to work with. I can't tell if her mother hated her, or if she hated her life in general, but that relationship cast a shadow over the early stages of the book.
Ursula's descent into depression while she tries to put up with the mother-in-law from hell, a sister-in-law that comes as a close second, as well as her preachy husband and his weird kinks...
Things get a bit better as they start the London segment, mainly because there seems to be a bit more plot rather than characterization now. It made the book more enjoyable, although there's a grim segment here as well. And even if Ursula comes out of the entire thing with something she actually wanted, I can't help thinking that it was a particularly grim tale overall.
3.5⭐ on account of the fact that it picked up in the second half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage