Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Les Bien-aimés by Ann Napolitano

191 reviews

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional inspiring 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

This book captivated me from beginning to end, and made me so emotional and reflective. I was in tears from 20 pages before the conclusion to the end.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

likās ļoooooooti izstiepti - pat pārāk, ņemot vērā to, ka fiziski nenotiek diži daudz darbību, kā ir vienkārši džūlijas, silvijas, alises vai viljama domas (un par vienu notikumu varēja būt vairāki skatupunkti, kas mazliet nogurdināja). jā, varoņi ir noslīpēti, katrā no tiem es saskatīju kaut ko no sevis, kas hit a bit too close to home, bet jebkurā gadījumā, manuprāt, to visu varēja pateikt nedaudz īsāk. kā arī, beigas man šķita nepabeigtas - it kā zīmīgs notikums, viljams beidzot satiek alisi, bet saruna likās nepabeigta (un man besī nepabeigtas/atvērtas beigas).

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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: Yes

SO. I love/seek out Little Women-esque books about four sisters (wonder why) and this may have been my least favorite so far. I didn’t hate it, but I was surprised I didn’t like it more. 

It’s an unfair comparison, but the relationships between the sisters feel so much more relatable and real in Little Women. I couldn’t quite relate to the relationships between the Padavano sisters, and that felt disorienting. 

Plus, it’s inherent that the book would focus on some sisters more than others, but the younger sisters felt deeply underdeveloped. I felt like I’d didn’t get to know them at all. 

The parts of it that felt the most real were the magical bond the sisters have with each other, and some of the stories that were told about before the book started. But their interactions generally were just so fake. I say this all the time, but sisters are so much weirder than most writers think we are. We also aren’t ALWAYS saying profound and meaningful things to each other, we’re mostly idiots with each other. To compare it again to another piece of sister-centered media, I was rewatching Bad Sisters while I read this book, and I thought that show nailed sister dynamics on that front, so the contrast was very apparent to me. 

The whole Julia-William-Sylvie storyline was WILD. In what world would you EVER end up with your sister’s ex-husband?? I would be unbelievably hurt. It makes sense that Julia only gets over it when Sylvie is dying. I feel like the author was referencing the Jo-Laurie-Amy storyline in Little Women, but that’s just completely different, Jo and Laurie weren’t married with a baby!! As much as it was nice to see Julia and Sylvie together at the end, I don’t know if I would ever get over my sister choosing a man over me, especially if that man had just left me and my newborn daughter. And I would never choose a man over my sisters… you get over a man, you don’t get over your sisters.


All the above said, this was honestly a really lovely book, with some beautiful writing. I just didn’t like it  much as I thought I would (and that could have been because of my expectations). 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings