Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

11 reviews

flordemaga's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to rate higher, but couldn’t. The book is a bit slow on the first third, grows considerably stronger in the second third with a tense atmosphere and stakes that feel high, and then… a messy last third with immersion breaking character speak and kind of a boring ending. 

Mandy is easily the strongest character, with a unique voice and a good portrait of an autistic character without being infantilizing nor ignoring disability. 

The rest of the character voices are, I feel, not distinct enough. Carter is the second most distinct voice. The rest kind of get muddled together. 

But what I hate the most: some of the dialogue, especially at the end when it super shouldn’t be, gets preachy and stilted and sounds unbelievable. Like… The author expects me to believe like these traumatized 18 year olds would be speaking like they just got out of their weekly therapy session after they’ve faced Horrors. It’s deeply unrealistic and ridiculous and immersion-breaking as hell. But okay. 

It really pissed me off and that with the unclear character voices just really turned me off and I kinda wish I didn’t actually read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Ableism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, and Addiction

Minor: Car accident and Chronic illness

savreads28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Hate crime, Medical content, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Murder, Transphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Bullying, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

rosesandstuff's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

I wish we had more of the murderers perspective,

the look into Liva’s mind really made the book for me

but overall this book made me so happy and tense and I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Addiction, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Ableism

Minor: Car accident

g0ryg0bl1n's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-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

the main antagonist was a little predictable. the cast was diverse in the sense of sexuality, gender, and ‘health’. i am pretty sure the group was made up of mostly white people. they address that in the book though. the characters were relatable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Ableism, Chronic illness, and Death

longlost's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

wow the villain of this book is a real piece of shit huh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Ableism, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia

baponthecob's review

dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I really wasn't connected to the friend group as a whole, but as individuals, Ever was my favorite and I related the most to Maddy. I really did not care about Carter at all, and I hated Liva with a passion. Her head was so far up her own ass that she could probably taste her breakfast. I understand that she was conditioned to be that way by her parents, but at some point she is responsible for her own actions, especially when her friends wanted to help. Finn was done so dirty by her. I got tired of her classism and ableism so quick. Also transphobia??? Really out of left field. Like she is a cis straight rich white girl out here belittling her queer, trans, and disabled friends who are not as well off 😟 and then had the audacity to say she still cared about them 😟 and that they made her do what she did bc they tried to be more than they should 😟 please get some help
And after all that, we've got Ever still feeling bad. They have so much compassion for everyone else and I love them for it, but they really need to care about themself too :( and that's where  the book takes us at the end. Freshly realized morals, taking one step at a time, all that cheesy shit.
Overall, I liked how this book discussed friendship and how some things may not last. The main message at the end was a little bittersweet but still hopeful. But it was just VERY in-your-face, which really took me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Self harm, and Transphobia

nyoom's review

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma and Toxic relationship

Minor: Colonisation

kamiacam's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Transphobia

drp_moonlight's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I can't begin to say how underwhelming it was. The book markets itself as a thriller but the actual action is far too often put aside for teen drama and angst that tried to pass as character development but only served to drag the story to a complete halt. The villain was incredibly predictable and not even interesting at that. Still rated 3 stars because it was a quick read and entertaining enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Transphobia, and Chronic illness

Minor: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

plumpaperbacks's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

I added Even If We Break to my tbr on impulse because it sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, I only liked three of the five leads, and I wasn’t really invested in the story. Not only am I hardly interested in roleplaying, but it was also quite easy, in my opinion, to guess who the antagonist was. By the time I was halfway done, I had two predictions, and one of them ended up being correct. If I’m being honest, it was disappointing. Said antagonist didn’t have a good reason for any of their actions.

I nearly gave the book two stars, but bumped it up by half because I did end up really liking Ever, Finn, and Maddy. Their friendship was sweet and genuine, and Ever and Finn’s budding romance was super cute.

Ultimately, I’m not sure I’d recommend this, and I’m not sure Nijkamp’s work is my cup of tea. Thrillers really are hit or miss.

Representation

• trans bisexual protagonist that uses they/them pronouns
• trans protagonist that uses he/him pronouns
• autistic bisexual protagonist with chronic pain
• bisexual protagonist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Blood, Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Death, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, and Transphobia

Minor: Physical abuse and Self harm