Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

23 reviews

karlymarcy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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

5.0

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kmad's review against another edition

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3.0

Loved the MN setting, hated the confusing time jumps 
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ssmylie's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

3.5

The women in this book over four generations went through a lot of tragedy!

While the synopsis of the book makes it seem like this book focuses on a couple, a grandmother and a supper club in the Midwest, But, this book is really a generational tale about Bettie, Florence, Mariel and Julia and how they are are all connected to the supper club. However, they each have a different relationship to it — a fresh start, a place to run from, a safe haven to return to, or the close of a chapter. 
The supper club is the only constant in a world were there are unforeseen variables changing their lives everyday. As the characters grow older they get to experience the highs of like — a marriage and a child — or the very lows of life — death and grief. At times this book was funny, other times I wanted to cry, and most times I was just wondering what would happen to our characters next in this wild ride of life. 

My only negative about the book is that Ned Prager is rendered to the background at the end of the book and we don't get to see how he grew as a person after his own personal tragedies. I wonder if he actually found his way or if he just kept a happy disposition because things could be worse. 
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mollywill's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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brianna97's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

I was NOT expecting this book to be heavy and sad? I guess that’s why they say to not judge a book by it’s cover! It was a slow burn (for me) but it was well written and enjoyable over all. The ending was a little disappointing; I just wished there was slightly more to it. Overall it’s a good book ~ 3.5!
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katiejohns's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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amberlfaris's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.0

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lindsm94's review

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

3.0

This books jumps around between characters and timelines a lot, honestly I was lost/confused for a lot of it. The book has animal death right away and discusses infertility, miscarriage, child loss, and parental loss/illness so avoid if those topics are hard for you. 

The story was sweet at times covering 4 generations of women, but not my favorite read. 
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nextpaige's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

Didn’t love this quite as much as Kitchens of the Great Midwest but was still good. Could have used another 100 pages or so to dive deeper into some of the POVs, Ned’s and Mariel’s particularly.
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meredithamadee's review

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5/5 stars! I love a multigenerational family saga and this one hit the spot (and was the perfect length)! I loved the in depth look into all the characters and their lives. The setting was really compelling and different from anything I’d read before. This book does deal with some heavy topics so read trigger warnings before reading. Great, endearing summer read with depth.
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