Reviews

Dying Young by Marti Leimbach

julesandbooks's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

ashheider's review

3.0

Since I am in love and googly eyed over the movie, I thought the book must be amazing! Everything that I love about the movie is absent from the book and frankly, every character is down right annoying and dysfunctional in the book.

Alas, this one is the exception to the rule. The movie is better than the book. :(

twerkingtobeethoven's review

1.0

I remember reading this back in... pfff... probably 1992 when I was much younger. I didn't like it at the time, I thought it was absolutely hideous, but read it anyway because back then I had much more time on my hands than now. Well, I stumbled upon this piece of junk today, it was inside an old cardboard box so I thumbed through the pages and... ugh! Present tense, horrible dialogue full of the worst cliches, and depression aplenty.

One star.

Actually a quarter.

kirame's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

I read this book because I saw trailer to the movie and thought it would be better to read the book first. It was nothing like I expected. Kinda different from the movie. I was highly disappointed by the characters (esp. their morals). At some points it was kinda like a soap opera. I have to admit I fell in love with few characters who were funny, witty and I enjoyed it every time they were in the scene.

Estella (she's a queen!), Victor, Cappy

By the end some things resolved nicely, but the final ending surprised me. There were few sex scenes, which is not my cup of tea. Overall, it was easy and quick to read. The pacing was fast, quick jumping between scenes, not too much describtions etc.
My personal rant on this book (spoiler alert!)

Main characters are so immoral in many ways. Hilary cheating on her dying boyfriend who (to be fair) treats her poorly in many situations. Gordon being ok with befriending Victor. What a selfish hypocrite! Like they (I mean Hilary&Gordon) have no conscience or common sense for the most of the book! At least he was the one who told Victor about the affair. And Victor (who I was rooting for the whole time) choosing suicide by the end?! Oh, I was so not expecting it and so disapointed. At least he sent Hilary to live a better life. I hoped for better ending for him (like recovery or sth).

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Toxic relationship

apostrophen's review against another edition

3.0

The story of a caretaker and a man dying of lieukemia, and a third man who gains the caretaker's attention, this was a movie with Julia Roberts, and this is the Movie Tie-In. I'm not sure what possessed me to read it way back when, except maybe for a while I had a real fascination with dead/dying characters (I think I was convinced it was romantic).

If you've seen the movie, you've already read this book, but hey.