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meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
Mia's mother enters the hospital complaining of a stomachache and dies eleven days later after being diagnosed with cancer. Set in 1991, this book is sad and realistic in its portrayal of how Mia and her father cope with her mother's death. Well-written with a bit of a 'literary fiction' feeling to it, misrepresented by the cover art. An afterword by the author reveals how the book was based on her own life story.
tobyyy's review
3.0
This was a very raw, very real book. As mentioned in the afterword, this was a very autobiographical novel. It felt somewhat disconnected — more like a series of vignettes at times than a novel — and I never really felt that I got to know Mia that well.
I feel like overall, this was an honest book that didn’t mask very much. A very heartfelt expression of grief, and one that also honors how differently people grieve.
#UnreadShelfProject2019 — book one.
I feel like overall, this was an honest book that didn’t mask very much. A very heartfelt expression of grief, and one that also honors how differently people grieve.
#UnreadShelfProject2019 — book one.
kricketa's review
3.0
Oddly enough, I had already read the first chapter of this book in my sister-in-law's copy of Seventeen. I didn't like it then, but as I read on, the story (which is semi-autobiographical) made a lot more sense- Rabb is good at relating the bizarrities of grief and what happens when life goes on and is even good again.
belles_bookshelves's review
I actually read a good chunk of the book, but after a while there was just too much suckage going on. I skimmed the rest of the book, but it took me about 2 hours to "skim" so I ended up reading most of it. I guess I liked how it ended, and Mia's voice was very honest and raw. It's hard to say what exactly kept me from reading the whole thing through. I think it's because I didn't understand Mia. I know that she was mourning her mother's death and that there are a lot of other things going on, but I hated the decisions she made. Just because she has a lot of stuff to deal with doesn't mean that her judgment is completely impaired. I know it sounds like I'm judging the way she mourned, but I couldn't understand why she did things. There were funny parts and it was very honest to life. I just couldn't bring myself to read the whole thing through.
bestdressedbookworm's review
2.0
I skimmed most of the second half, it started strong but then it just felt like a mish-mash of events over a long time period shoved into 230 pages. It just didnt work for me. But I can see how you would love this if you had lost someone important and this is how your life went. I have lost important people but I couldnt relate to the forced drama of this story.
Not for me unfortuantly
Not for me unfortuantly
missprint_'s review
4.0
Cures For Heartbreak by Margo Rabb deals with the subject of loss throughout the novel, as its title may suggest. Set in 1991 in Queens, the story revolves around Mia, her sister Alex, and their father. Semi-biographical, the novel chronicles the family's grieving process when Mia's mother (Greta) is admitted to the hospital with a stomachache and dies twelve days later from advanced melanoma.
The most surprising thing about the novel is how vivid Rabb's imagery is throughout. Rabb's simple language and conversational tone make the story and characters come alive on the page. Mia's loss is palpable throughout her narration: "My father handed [the death certificate] to him and recounted the details about our mother--a sudden death, twelve days after the diagnosis; no, no one expected it he was sorry too. Forms were filled out. Then Manny invited us to view the coffins." Rather than sympathizing with Mia in an abstract way, readers are completely drawn into the story. It feels like the novel is describing the reader's personal experiences and talking about their own loss instead of the characters'.
Another dimension is added to the novel because Mia's family is Jewish, her mother arriving in the USA as a baby with her parents in 1939 before America closed its borders to refugee Jews. Rabb uses these close memories of World War Two and the Holocaust to examine Mia's loss in a larger context. The story is incredibly sad, obviously, but also beautiful. It's comforting to see the family try to move forward. Rabb's level of realism is amazing--I felt like I was reading stories from my own life, the details were that vivid.
This novel actually feels more like a series of inter-connected short stories. The plot moves through funeral preparations, friendship, an engagement, and another funeral as Mia's wayward family tries to reconfigure itself without Greta's grounding presence. And eventually the family does figure it out. When the novel ends it is clear that the situation is not ideal, can't be ideal, but that it does get easier to keep going. Because, as Rabb suggests, the most important thing is to keep going in the face of loss. Rather than stay with the grieving process, Rabb shows that losing someone is never the end of a relationship. It's just a reason to value memories even more.
The most surprising thing about the novel is how vivid Rabb's imagery is throughout. Rabb's simple language and conversational tone make the story and characters come alive on the page. Mia's loss is palpable throughout her narration: "My father handed [the death certificate] to him and recounted the details about our mother--a sudden death, twelve days after the diagnosis; no, no one expected it he was sorry too. Forms were filled out. Then Manny invited us to view the coffins." Rather than sympathizing with Mia in an abstract way, readers are completely drawn into the story. It feels like the novel is describing the reader's personal experiences and talking about their own loss instead of the characters'.
Another dimension is added to the novel because Mia's family is Jewish, her mother arriving in the USA as a baby with her parents in 1939 before America closed its borders to refugee Jews. Rabb uses these close memories of World War Two and the Holocaust to examine Mia's loss in a larger context. The story is incredibly sad, obviously, but also beautiful. It's comforting to see the family try to move forward. Rabb's level of realism is amazing--I felt like I was reading stories from my own life, the details were that vivid.
This novel actually feels more like a series of inter-connected short stories. The plot moves through funeral preparations, friendship, an engagement, and another funeral as Mia's wayward family tries to reconfigure itself without Greta's grounding presence. And eventually the family does figure it out. When the novel ends it is clear that the situation is not ideal, can't be ideal, but that it does get easier to keep going. Because, as Rabb suggests, the most important thing is to keep going in the face of loss. Rather than stay with the grieving process, Rabb shows that losing someone is never the end of a relationship. It's just a reason to value memories even more.
abigailbat's review
4.0
Mia's mother is diagnosed with cancer and then dies 12 days later. While grieving for her mother, Mia also has to deal with her father's heart attack and her older sister leaving for college. Mia has a lot on her plate and the hospital social worker's advice is to go shopping... Throughout the year after her mother's death Mia somehow figures out how to cope in this touching novel based on the author's own experience. It deals with a sad topic without being depressing.
hsileshi13's review
4.0
It's terribly boring beginning almost made me abandon this. But I gave it a second chance and let me just say it was worth it. The beginning and middle were entirely too slow, but the ending had a twist I'll never forget. <3