Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

3 reviews

edamamebean's review against another edition

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

5.0

This was such a beautiful book, and I wept on and off through the last fifty pages. I don’t know how Lauren Groff always does that to me. No one can convince me she’s not a prophet, either. Reading this book ten years after it was written, it’s really spooky knowing that

an extremely similar virus actually came to pass around the same time that she predicted

in this novel. She encompasses so many themes in this book—life and death, inevitability of what awaits us with climate change, coming of age. It was soso good, just so good. I’m now on a mission to read every single one of Lauren Groff’s novels before The Vaster Wilds comes out in September. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Rape, Animal death, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

alyaknedgo's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.25

Such a beautifully written book; it feels almost more like poetry than a novel. It is quite slow in some parts, but the essence of the story + the prose made it worth the read to me. Also I definitely cried at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

cjordahl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

It's a beautiful, touching novel with gorgeous poetic writing. I was sometimes tripped up by the word choices and sentence structures. But it's a small complaint, really. And maybe it's not truly a complaint, and more an observation of something I actually value, which is unique, surprising writing. That kind of writing requires extra effort from the reader, and must give a payoff for the effort, which this novel does. Might be worth 5 stars, but I'm giving 4 because it didn't fully capture me like my favorite 5-star reads do. I didn't always feel eager to get back to the book, and during reading I did sometimes find my mind wandering. These complaints are not as big as they might sound though! Especially the mind wandering -- the book requires, and rewards, effort and attention, and fills you up, and I think the best way to read this book is to recognize when it's best to put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Suicide, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content and Police brutality