Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Les Bien-aimés by Ann Napolitano

192 reviews

shae_reads's review against another edition

4.0

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Julia sucks a lot. I love Charlie and I see myself in William. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Pregnancy

brokenjac's review against another edition

3.75

emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book, to me, is a bit of a peculiarity. I was swept away in the first chunk with the romantic literature but got severely and irreparably lost between 30 and 60 percent of the way through. The end uplifted the experience and garnered a reaction, but I feel that has more to do with a connection to the themes more so than the merit of the structure. Many of the characters are lacking in a greater complexity, the spanning cast consuming the ability for characters to earn depth beyond their basis. Much of the dealing with mental illness felt disconnected from truth. Although I cannot profess a greater understanding of it, many of the characters reactions were harmful and never fully or outright corrected. Further, the healing process contained some professions than disrupted my ability to immerse myself in the story as they pulled less at the character and more at the novels threads. The result is a sweeping story that loses its characters in the narrative it tries to weave. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide attempt

lexcellent's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Car accident, Lesbophobia

morgan_leopold's review against another edition

3.5

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness

Minor: Death, Death of parent

susan_and_shep_13's review against another edition

4.0

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I originally gave this book 5 stars but thinking back this is probably more of a 4 star for me.  At the time of reading, though,  it is exactly what I wanted...a good old fashioned family saga. The publisher has likened it to a "Little Women" "retelling" or influenced by Little Women. That is not accurate at all. It is a story of 4 sisters but beyond that the similarities end. Some of the characters are infuriating and others are more in the background but still quietly having an influence. There is part of the story that revolves around one character that has made her choices and her stubbornness to rethink some of them for the sake of her daughter is tiresome. Overall a good book...but not great. I read this for my IRL book club, The Page Turners. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent

vanessatombolini's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Classism

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War

imustich's review against another edition

5.0

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia

jenmtnbike's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful reflective 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment

megrum22's review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide attempt

megreads12's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Car accident