Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

8 reviews

carlytenille's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Addiction, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Death, Drug abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

deenmachine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Lauren Groff has never written a bad thing in her life!! This was an immersive book that brings you into its world. Characters were richly developed and felt real. I blasted through the first half because it was so engrossing seeing adult issues through a kid's eyes. I didn't expect this book to have such an accurate and loving depiction of end of life and caregiving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Addiction, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Adult/minor relationship

krysreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Rape

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

bookmarkedbyfi's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

raptorq's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Mental illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

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