Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Summer Bird Blue

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

8 reviews

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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cookiecat73's review

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emotional funny 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

5.0

Content Warnings

_kael_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I cry everytim. I kennaht I-- <///3 ;_; y.y T-T I'm still processing my own sad emotions

like in the book auahfsgsag.

I am left in pain. Emotional damage.

The book has: Funny, wholesome, angry & sad moments, real & relatable characters, different types of relationships including platonic and Hawaiian pidgin. Everyone else was so heartwarming. Makes your heart full yk.

The book is: inspiring, bittersweet, heartwarming, sad, emotional, inspiring, reflective, poetic

Genres: LGBTQIA+, contemporary, fiction, young adult

About: processing grief, aro ace rep (brief mentions of the terms), music

Theme: summer vibes

Thoughts: I love the characters' relationship with each other. I thought Rumi and Mr. Watanabe's relationship was cute.

When Rumi and Kai started trying to date, I assumed maybe she wasn't in the far end of the aro spectrum. But if she was still aro, I was wondering how it was gonna end. I like how it doesn't go the usual romantic trope route where there's a token romantic partner in a story that doesn't really need romance/the romance isn't written well.

What I've reflected from what I've read: Relationships are complicated. So is life. It is complex. Every issue is rooted in interpersonal relationship issues (The Courage to Be Disliked). Most of the time due to insecurities, I've realized. The book TCTBD helped me in realizing this.

Reading about Rumi's insecurities reminded of the book.

We all also have different emotional thresholds. To some, something is super sad, while to others it is not that sad.

It is also okay to not know all the answers in life. If you can get answers to some of your questions, you still don't need to know them right now. Everything in life is a journey, and everything takes time.

The ending: Roller coaster of emotions. The entire book's emotions in one. It started in

P. 338 & Ch. 47, where I got mixed feelings about Rumi. First anger/something similar, understanding, then sadness. And then I cried. I loved the last chapter (Ch. 51), but that was it??¿ That's the ending??¿ After I cried and had a bit of bittersweet feel-good feelings after, it has ended already??¿ The author just left me crying in the end in emotional pain!! T-T <///3 Emotional dAamagee! It's like I grieved for the book. The ending cut too quick. u_y </3

Reading Summer Bird Blue's lyrics makes me feel like that it's melody/tone has the same vibes of the song "Dessert Moon" from Disney's Aladdin live action movie. It flew in the end.

Additional Thoughts: Very real lead character. Ngl, I can relate with her personality somewhat. I also thought I wasn't an angry person, but I realized I get irritated/annoyed/angry at certain moments and sometimes I also wonder why...And the sounding mean without any intention to be too. Everyone just needs some understanding. We need to be ourselves and the misunderstood want to be understood too. Maybe we can all try to take a step back and assess what someone's intentions really are. I can really see that she's trying with the sandwich method 😅 More characters like Rumi please, and different types of characters too. Maybe we can gain understanding of different people more by being in their shoes.

The book gives me inspiration and ideas, like the sandwich method and how Rumi & Lea find inspiration for their songs.

Also, therapy is good. 👍🏼

Writing style: I found it a continuous read, but since it isn't really my go-to genre, it's not to the point that I want to know what happens next. It was an okay read, but I don't think I'll find myself rereading it.

Conclusions: All throughout the book, I was neutral about it and found it very reflective most of the time. I would give it a solid 3.75 until the ending T_T <///3 There were 1-2 or so moments where I felt a bit sad before that, without getting teary-eyed. Maybe because

Lea died early in the book, so the reader didn't really get to have an emotional connection with the character.

But the ending made me cry.

There were so many quotes from the book that I liked and loved. Maybe I'll quote one or a few some other time. Or maybe I won't. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

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zoya_nazyalensky's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

5.0

This book was beautiful❤
It's definitely not something I would usually read, but I loved it

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longlost's review against another edition

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emotional 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

5.0

"I’m cradling my arm in a cast when the doctor tells us Lea is dead. Mom’s in a chair next to me, her fingers digging into the hospital bed, her eyes dull like all the light has gone out of them.
I try to say so many words. It’s not true. You’re wrong. She’s alive. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re lying. I don’t believe you.
But I can’t say anything. The words for what I’m feeling don’t exist. "

This book my beloved. Akemi Dawn Bowman conveys Rumi's grief over her sister's death flawlessly, and manages to make Rumi likeable and understandable regardless of how she lashes out due to that grief. Her connection to music is described so beautifully and

the way it helps her heal is incredibly lovely.

Rumi's grief is perhaps the shining area of this book - it feels so palpable and overwhelming, just as it is to Rumi herself, and ultimately makes

her journey to recovery even more heartfelt.

Her relationships with other characters such as Kai or Mr. Watanabe provided a relief from Rumi's heavy feelings of grief,

and it's no wonder that it's with their help that Rumi was able to learn to deal with her pain.

The first chapter shows us the events that killed Rumi's sister, and from there we only see her in small memory segments that provide glimpes into their relationship,

which isn't always as flowery as one would like to remember it. Many of the memory sequences feature Rumi and Lea fighting, and build up to Rumi's feelings of jealousy towards her sister and that their mother always preferred Lea to her. The painful relationship between Rumi and her mother after Lea's death was incredible heartbreaking to read about, even if ultimately they turned out okay.

Rumi grieves heavily throughout the book which can make it a hard read, but the story of her healing is definitely worth reading.

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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emotional sad 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

4.0

I would not recommend reading this while grieving. Other than that this was fantastic.

Rep: Questioning aroace biracial (Hawaiian & Japanese) MC, biracial (mostly Hawaiian + another ethnicity) cast.

CWs: Abandonment, child death, death, grief. Moderate: car accident, cancer.

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tina94's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

Content Warnings

noyastan's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

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