Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

95 reviews

emblanc's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

martinja1210's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Terminal illness

beate251's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Hello you beautiful book.

What a joy it was to read this. This is a book about relationships - romantic ones but mostly between sisters, and parents and children, and also friends. We see what happens when parents turn away from their children and siblings away from each other. We also see the dangers of people living the wrong life. This is a story about sad dysfunctional people, but also about strong women, and William and Julia who married for the wrong reasons - she because she was after a traditional ideal, and he because he had a lonely childhood and fell in love with the entire Padavano family and their love for each other. His wife didn't stand by him after his mental breakdown (nor did his parents who still grieved his dead sister) but he was allowed a second chance through the love of a second Padavano sister - a decision that tore Julia and her daughter away from the rest of the family for the longest time. It is sad that a reunion and forgiveness was only possible at the end due to a tragedy but the whole book operated on the premise of "when one door closes, another one opens."

As an aside, I couldn't figure out what Julia's high-powered job was for the entire book - she works for her uni professor on a time-limited project but that suddenly morphs into a permanent job with clients and a fancy office in the New York division? What kind of professor has these kinds of jobs to offer?

Apart from that, great literature, and the portrait on the cover is gorgeous, as if it was painted by Cecelia herself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Death, and Terminal illness

jmiles758's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment

oproy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

This book is definitely about character study and how one small choice can lead to a chain reaction. I’ve known a family in the past like the Padavanos, and being able to feel that kind of palpable love…it’s addicting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Pregnancy

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Oh lord. How do I describe this book? When I read it was like a Little Women retelling I was a tad scared because I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell you to expect to laugh, cry, and smile at this beautiful book. I was skeptical about the first few chapters but then Napolitano throws you a curve ball and ramps the pace right up! The characters are complex and beautifully developed, the story manages to be funny, sad, and reflective of family and love all at the same time. The end is beautiful and unexpected (I cried for like 80 pages no joke!) but perfectly closes out the book and all loose ends. I wish I could read this again for the first time because i'd appreciate it more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Mental illness, Body horror, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

meganritchie's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness and Suicide attempt

kcarney86's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Death, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

cat_is_turning_pages's review against another edition

sad 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? It's complicated

0.25

Truly Awful

Within my first couple hours of listening to this book, I began to question why the author had written it. Given the high accolades this book has received, I kept an open mind and gave the novel the benefit of the doubt until the very last word of the very last chapter.

This book is slow, depressing, and morally chaotic. The main characters tend to be unlikeable and make stupid decisions that ruin their lives. But instead of teaching these characters any lessons, the author chooses to have one of these characters “meaningfully” declare how proud she is of herself for making her stupidest decision decades after it was made.

The only conclusion I have been able to come to is that this book was written as an apologetic piece for cruel behavior and/or bad decisions. The moral of the story is a combination of “love conquers all” and “you should forgive your family members no matter what they do.” 

Forgiveness can be a wonderful path to freedom. However, it can also be used by selfish people to justify mistreating others. This story contained both types of forgiveness, but tried to pass all of it off as the former. 

The cover and title seem to promise a glimpse into the beauty of the human condition, but Hello Beautiful is one of the ugliest books I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Child death, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Incest

Plot Synopsis / Spoilers:

Newly married father attempts suicide while his wife's sister falls in love with him and begins spending every day with him in the mental hospital. The young father divorces his wife and gives up legal parenthood of his infant daughter. The divorced wife, who has just been betrayed three times by being abandoned as a wife, coparent, and sister, moves away and heroically builds a new life for her and her new daughter. Her ex-husband and sister, who never offer a true apology, get married and enjoy life with the sisters' extended family while the ex-wife/sister is made to feel guilty by her extended family for leaving them. Eventually the sister who married her sister's ex-husband dies of cancer and is made to seem like some kind of saint. In the end, the father reluctantly meets his adult daughter only because she tracks him down.

mad_books_'s review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt