Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

87 reviews

bekacrook's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

What a hard hitting, emotional book. The characters were all flawed but genuine, they felt like they could be real people just stuck with an unfortunate lot in life. It was easy to understand where they each got their perspective on the court case and the way the author often dipped into their pasts while in their points of view really showed what key moments shaped them individually and as a family. 

At times it was a hard read, there were so many feelings involved for all the characters, so many secrets and misunderstandings and lack of communication between characters in an effort to save them from more pain. 

The ending absolutely gutted me, it differs from the film but ultimately I think it hits harder. It feels unfair and devasting and more in keeping with the unpredictable nature of life and peoples lives. It genuinely made me cry and gasp in shock. The timing of it was so effective but god, it was horrible. It felt like the whole story was for nothing. 

The only bit that I wasn't the biggest fan of was the jumping between perspectives, different times and locations for all of them. Sometimes this made it hard to keep track and keep immersed in the story because you kept leaping to learn about it from another perspective. It was effective but just sometimes tricky to keep up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide attempt, Child death, Car accident, and Suicidal thoughts

amydeppe's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Cancer, and Medical content

Moderate: Medical trauma, Child death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Vomit

fernash's review against another edition

reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Child death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Pedophilia tag for mention in joke, no pedophilia actually occurs.

adilyn's review against another edition

emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Child death

amacaroni33's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

My Sister's Keeper has been a longtime favorite of mine. With each reread I find new aspects of this story that resonate with me. It traverses an ethical dilemma that grips an entire family and raises questions about bodily autonomy and acts of service. At times it crushes my heart, other times it warms it, and other times it angers me. It makes me think about the unpredictability and fragility of life and ultimately makes me reexamine these issues as they arise in the lives of people around me. I want to put this book on my shelf and revisit it with new eyes 5 years from now, 10, 15, and so on to see if my perception of the Fitzgerald family changes over time. That level of emotion and thought is when you know a novel is good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood

shahad_086's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Medical content

Moderate: Death and Car accident

manta_moony's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.25

Really good story, could be a bit repetitive at times. The male characters had this annoying trait of of talking about women a bit weirdly but it’s easy to look past it. The main protagonist was very likeable and the multiple perspectives was done really well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Child death, Cancer, Death, and Grief

claire_bear26's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

blankpageben's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book broke me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, and Child death

lynnem15's review

reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Cancer