Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

I fell in love with hope by Lancali

78 reviews

kmarr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

Heartbreaking story about love and growth and death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Eating disorder, Bullying, Terminal illness, Suicide, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Child death

shaleen64's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.0

I struggled to engage with the first half of the book as I found Sam the narrator’s character confusing. However, the second half of the book is inspiring and heartbreaking in equal measure and the ending does not leave any room for confusion. This book makes you reflect on what you have to be grateful for. 

For those will a chronic or terminal illness it validates how hard it can be and for those without it gives you a glimpse of what our lives are like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Death, Eating disorder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood and Homophobia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Vomit

gabobinson's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

addssubract's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

i cried 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, and Grief

vi_holmes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Make sure you have tissues and read the warnings, but this is a pretty good debut! Neo has my soul and I loved Sonny so much! Also Eric is such a mood. 
I will say that the ending felt long winded and some of the dialog was idealic/unnatural especially in the last quarter of the book. But the way the author doesn't shy away from the harsh subjects she tackles in the book really makes up for!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Eating disorder, Grief, Self harm, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Hate crime, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

lucyford's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The story was unlike any book I’ve ever read, and the characters were also really unique, especially the protagonist. What I loved most about this book was the ending, and all the wisdom the author shared about life and death, it was really comforting to hear. The only reason I didn’t rate it higher is because the writing isn’t really my style, and I found it really unnatural at times, especially in the dialogue, and also the jump between timelines got in the way of the story a bit at times (in my opinion). However, I still highly recommend reading this book for the perspectives and emotional rollercoaster that it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Gore, Suicide, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Grief, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Abandonment, Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, and Violence

jg34's review against another edition

dark hopeful slow-paced

4.0

I am still a bit confused with my feelings but I think I liked it??? I think to enjoy this you have to suspend belief a little bit, do not look for the logic like I did. This is all vibes no plot. 
Overall I liked the story and thought it was creative in the way it was told. The writing did feel a bit tumblr-esc but I didn’t mind. About the ending-

I think I am wrong after reading reviews, but I interpreted Sam (the narrator) to be the embodiment of hope. I think they are actually the hospital in human form but I like them being hope better so I’m sticking to that. And in any case, the narrator having a “savior complex” makes sense because this whole book is about hope and what happens when you lose hope, so I don’t understand that complaint from others.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm

cartermon4's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Chronic illness, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Grief, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Vomit

v333spertine's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Vomit

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

emotional 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

2.75

For the first half of the book, I wasn’t too engaged apart from the backstories. The second half (primarily the 3rd quarter of the book) was EXCELLENT. Heart-wrenching, but excellent. My favorite character was definitely Neo, though I definitely have soft spots for both Sony and Coeur, and the story of Neo and Coeur always pulled at my heartstrings.

The storyline of both Sams was interesting, particularly in the latter half of the book.

Despite this being right up my alley, though, I couldn’t always vibe with the writing style. There consistently feels like there is a distance between the reader and the characters, including the narrator, which makes sense since their major character flaw is pushing people away, but it just isn’t to my preference. I also like really getting to know the main character, but they remain more vague until the end. You get echos of who they are, but they are usually more defined in what they are observing rather than what they are experiencing. I prefer the latter. It is well-written and has so many beautiful quotes (I love lyrical prose!), but that distance until maybe the second half of the book (for the most part since sometimes it is still present, though less so) disrupts the experience for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Bullying, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent and Rape