Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

27 reviews

nanirump's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The main characters are quite sad and lack good communication skills. The characters make some seriously misguided decision and most of the parenting is sub-par or harmful without being outright abusive. It was a beautiful story nonetheless and I'm glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

jamespwaa's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism and Grief

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

5.0

Oh lord. How do I describe this book? When I read it was like a Little Women retelling I was a tad scared because I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell you to expect to laugh, cry, and smile at this beautiful book. I was skeptical about the first few chapters but then Napolitano throws you a curve ball and ramps the pace right up! The characters are complex and beautifully developed, the story manages to be funny, sad, and reflective of family and love all at the same time. The end is beautiful and unexpected (I cried for like 80 pages no joke!) but perfectly closes out the book and all loose ends. I wish I could read this again for the first time because i'd appreciate it more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cat_is_turning_pages's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

0.25

Truly Awful

Within my first couple hours of listening to this book, I began to question why the author had written it. Given the high accolades this book has received, I kept an open mind and gave the novel the benefit of the doubt until the very last word of the very last chapter.

This book is slow, depressing, and morally chaotic. The main characters tend to be unlikeable and make stupid decisions that ruin their lives. But instead of teaching these characters any lessons, the author chooses to have one of these characters “meaningfully” declare how proud she is of herself for making her stupidest decision decades after it was made.

The only conclusion I have been able to come to is that this book was written as an apologetic piece for cruel behavior and/or bad decisions. The moral of the story is a combination of “love conquers all” and “you should forgive your family members no matter what they do.” 

Forgiveness can be a wonderful path to freedom. However, it can also be used by selfish people to justify mistreating others. This story contained both types of forgiveness, but tried to pass all of it off as the former. 

The cover and title seem to promise a glimpse into the beauty of the human condition, but Hello Beautiful is one of the ugliest books I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

Plot Synopsis / Spoilers:

Newly married father attempts suicide while his wife's sister falls in love with him and begins spending every day with him in the mental hospital. The young father divorces his wife and gives up legal parenthood of his infant daughter. The divorced wife, who has just been betrayed three times by being abandoned as a wife, coparent, and sister, moves away and heroically builds a new life for her and her new daughter. Her ex-husband and sister, who never offer a true apology, get married and enjoy life with the sisters' extended family while the ex-wife/sister is made to feel guilty by her extended family for leaving them. Eventually the sister who married her sister's ex-husband dies of cancer and is made to seem like some kind of saint. In the end, the father reluctantly meets his adult daughter only because she tracks him down.

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

I can relate so much to the sisters in this book for deeply personal reasons.  My mum passed away from a brain tumour in 1991.  This book reverberates in my heart for so many reasons,  and will stay with me for the rest of my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Pregnancy

carijacqueline's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Homophobia

fallonrhea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Car accident, and Alcohol

marinajonesreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

What a beautiful beautiful book. As a younger sister with a deep bond to my older sister, I was enraged and understanding and sad and mad all throughout. That’s how you know it’s a good and authentic story. I loved every part of this book, even when I was so angry at one of the sisters I wanted to scream. 

It was so beautifully written. Getting to see such a unique POV structure was refreshing and I loved being inside all of their heads. This tiny nuclear family with diamond strings connecting them to each other. 

I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Violence and Car accident

drnaynay's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

142whoopingllamas's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was an okay book, but there were very few content warnings so I was blindsided by them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

While not technically incest, William divorces Julia and then marries her sister, which feels extremely weird.