Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Forever Material

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Forever Material by Alexis Hall

169 reviews

owliglot's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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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inkdrinkers's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-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? Yes

2.0

Well... this was disappointing.

Off the heels of Boyfriend Material, Husband Material picks up with Luc and Oliver's relationship years later, decidedly both in their phase of adulthood where everyone around them is getting married, having babies, and moving on with their lives. But for both Luc and Oliver, they're not quite sure where they stand in the timeline of expectations versus what they actually want for their futures.

I won't lie, I've been in a slump this entire month of February, but I was really, really hopeful that this audiobook would get me out of it. Instead, I quickly realized it was only making it worse. I loved the beginning of this, setting up multiple weddings and multiple moments of proving Luc and Oliver's relationship had grown were great - until it very much wasn't for me. When they began to seem to have the same arguments over and over again that were cornerstones of the first book, I began to get really irritated because even though this was set years later, I felt like neither of them had grown at all.

This is also on me, but I had no idea this was a Four Weddings and a Funeral type of story, so the funeral aspect really threw me and upset me. For a multitude of personal reasons it hit way too close to home and at a moment I didn't really want to be reading about funerals and the messy aspects of grief and the ways people who are dead are loved, but not absolved of their bad behaviour. It was just a bit much for me and heavily, heavily impacted my reading experience and rating.

I wished I had liked this more. I wish that the ending had the "it's us against the world" feeling that it seemed to be going for. But it just didn't for me. This wasn't the happily ever after I wanted to read about, and being bogged down with too many other, hard topics made this a really unpleasant listening experience towards the end.

Content warnings: death of a parent (major plot point, with funeral), grief, homophobia, vomit, mentions to eating disorders

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sophcart_'s review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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finesilkflower's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

I liked this sequel a bit more than "Boyfriend Material," perhaps because the characters are a little more emotionally mature and their problems seem more real and relatable. I can't really relate to needing a fake boyfriend to make myself seem grounded for the tabloids (?) and my boss (??) but I can relate to being in a long-term relationship, deciding whether and how to take the next step.

Similar to "Boyfriend Material," there's an overwritten, jokey quality to the narrative that I find tiresome. I would prefer a lower key style of humor that comes naturally from characterization.

Stray Observations

I feel like this could have been better from Oliver's point of view as he has more character development in this one.

I like that Luc and Oliver's love and care for each other shines through in the book; they still bicker but come through for each other in the big ways.

The way that their disagreements of taste over wedding trappings turn into arguments about values felt realistic and grounded to me, as did their basic disagreement over how to "do" gayness.

I'm not sure I really buy the ending. It's not that I don't support (or find it deeply relatable) the general message that you get to decide, as a queer couple, to embrace commitment but reject formal marriage; it just didn't really feel true to these characters. Despite the blurb, I didn't really see them experiencing social pressure to marry outside of simply attending a lot of weddings, so it felt like it kind of came out nowhere that they decided they didn't want a wedding after all.

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eligru's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted

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

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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bookerbride's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

I really wanted to like this book but I struggled to finish it. The overall structure is interesting (just nothing new), I just didn't connect with the main characters, however.

I do get insecurity and trauma, but the couple seemed unable to evolve. Personally, I don't vibe with the "character who can't get anything right, never expresses themselves clearly". A couple that can't seem to be able to communicate is not endearing to me. Something I did like was the discussion about lgbtqia culture.

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