Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

167 reviews

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

vanessa1756's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book... what can I say that hasn't already been said or written about it? My feelings about this book are very mixed. I read it quickly, although it could’ve been about 100 pages shorter (in my opinion) and of course I cried at the end – as was expected by the author, I guess. How can one book contain so much torture porn? It’s almost unbelievable how the characters of this novel get themselves in EVERY tragedy imaginable during WW2. Impressive, almost, if it wasn’t so gory just for the sake of making the reader feel bad.

The author took literally EVERY cliché and stereotype about WW2, Nazis, the Holocaust and especially France and just ran with it. The amount of times the characters eat baguette with cheese, I honestly can’t. A little bit more research would’ve been nice. In an anecdote about nuns from the 1650s it says that they were put under the guillotine during the French Revolution. Sure, because they’re immortal nuns who lived for 140 years.

It’s just these little things that reminded me constantly that I was reading a badly-researched novel in which America is the perfect dream destination and French people eat stinky cheese and have affairs all the time. The instant-love story didn’t do anything to make me feel more immersed, the male love interest was just terrible. The clichés and lack of continuity pulled me out of the story every other page (for example, the sisters constantly change from pants to skirt to dress in the same scene – a good editor should’ve caught up on that I believe). And the unbelievable coincidences. All in all the writing style was just...not good. Slow and really repetitive at times. Making you cry doesn't mean it is a good novel?

I guess that’s it. Somewhat glad I finally read it, felt a lot of things (good and bad) but wouldn’t recommend it to people looking for a good novel about WW2. Please go and read Suite francaise instead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism and Cancer

elisalasater's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

mattiedancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

The writing is quite stunning. The prose is beautiful, weighted, and eloquent. There were some truly stunning standalone lines, but it also had a nice cohesion. Beyond that, it wasn’t a challenging writing style to read and was well-woven into the plot. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters were highly motivated and flawed, which meant that they felt uniquely human to me. The characterization of the Nazi soldiers was particularly detailed and complicated, leading to moments of pathos for these villains. At times, it felt like certain characters made very weird choices, but it was usually justified later. This just led to a slower understanding of characterization than I might have liked, but it wasn’t too jarring.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

I know that this is kind of a fan-favourite book, so I’m reluctant to say this, but at times it felt like the author used trauma a bit reflexively to address human moments. Too many times did I know that a terrible scene was coming and, when it came, it was witnessed by one too many characters who we had grown to love, no matter how illogical it might be that they would have ended up witnessing it. I appreciate that this is dealing with the reality of war horrors that took place during WWII; however, at times, it just felt a bit too neat in how directly the trauma continuously happened. That being said, the overarching plot was really well done. I loved the story-within-a-story format that the grandmother at the beginning set up. Overall a solid plot with just a lot of trauma at the end. 

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

The ending felt fine: necessary and complete. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of WWII novels
• Fans of historical fiction
• Fans of Kristin Hannah
• Fans of real-life trauma books or books focusing on horrific moments

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Infertility, Abandonment, and Alcohol

slama_llama's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Coming from a totally different part of the world, our history books do not cover WW2 in much detail other than highlighted names and dates and a few important accounts. This book is a historical fiction and not reality, it helped me peek at the horror that war is (yes, I understand that this is the water down, digestible, slightly romanticised version of the reality). I realised that there are so many ways that war affects people’s regular, everyday lives. So many ways it affects children- the intensity and the subtler effects never occurred to me. 
And this is not a thing of the past. There countries that are still at war, and things much worse than what is described here is happening to them, right now. Even with the resources we have, they are not receiving the aids they deserve. 
It might not be completely related to the content of this book, but I was reminded so many times how important it is that we keep remembering the past, our mistakes and it’s horrors, so we can manage our present in a way that we don’t have to relive it. 
This book was peppered with references to incidents and places I’ve never heard of and wish to learn a little more about. 
I appreciate the book and it’s writing. The last few chapters felt a bit cliche, but I liked the neat way the book ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Violence, Excrement, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, and Alcohol

shebke_21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Cancer

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was one hell of a ride. From the pain of grief and loss to the joys of love and motherhood, the French women of WWII were some of the silent heroes worth celebrating. It was great to read a novel focusing on their efforts instead of other parts of WWII that are more heavily emphasized. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and War

Moderate: Rape and Murder

Minor: Cancer and Miscarriage

ginthepages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was a stop reading to full body sob kind of book. It is absolutely heartbreaking and so, so beautiful. It beautifully describes the ripple effects of our lives, our courage, and the will to do the right thing in the face of great evil. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

sarahaf712's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Excrement, Vomit, and Abandonment

Content warning: Holocaust; concentration camps; forced labor camps; dead bodies; bombings

gemstone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Cancer and Sexual violence

Minor: Cursing, Infertility, Miscarriage, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Abandonment