Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

12 reviews

jeleigh16's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to absolutely love this book. I enjoyed it, but there were things about it that kept me from giving this 5 stars. The main issue I found was the consent issue. There was more than one character forcing themselves on another character in the name of teenage lust. If the book didn't have that element or they'd more strongly communicated about that difficulty in their relationships, I would have had an easier time with it. The representation of various experiences of these teens during the late 80s/early 90s in NYC during the AIDS epidemic was well done though and the ending does bring the themes together nicely. It certainly showcased what it means to learn to be a part of this thing we call community.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Excrement, Homophobia, Infidelity, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Grief, Outing, Medical content, and Racism

Minor: Gun violence

kibbles15's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense 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

1.5

I have thought a lot about how to explain why I did not like this book.  I think the main reason I did not like it is because I feel that it had so much potential and the author ruined the story with unlikable characters and way more sexual descriptions than seem appropriate for a book intended for teens.   I don't have any kids, but if I did, gay or straight, I would not want them to read this book.  It promotes underage drinking and sexual intercourse without any real references to the consequences of such actions.  I also don't like how the author persistantly implied that sexual intercourse equals love when in reality it is so much more.  Almost every relationship in the book (be it Judy and Raza or Art and Raza) was based solely on the physical attraction of each for the other. Judy and Art were honestly almost predatory in their relationships with Raza. To be honest, the only relationship I believed was that of the Uncle Stephen and his relationship with the people around him.  Stephen was the only character that seemed to have any depth.  His relationship with his friends, his passion to stand up for his beliefs despite his health, his love of old movies, and his efforts to teach his teenage protégés with love were the only thing I liked about this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, and Sexual content

greenlivingaudioworm's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

cheesepuppy's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Police brutality

tahsintries's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Excrement, Hate crime, and Violence

Minor: Racism and Alcoholism

moatzilla's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

lexa's review against another edition

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

5.0

A beautiful, breathtaking story of love in all forms. The love of friends, first love, romantic love, family love, community love, self love, and of course love of Madonna. But it is also so much more. It is a lesson in how far we've come in some ways and how far we still have to go in others. From the Author's Note: "This book is an ode to the heroes and heroines of the AIDS movement, activists who saved lives". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Grief, and Excrement

Minor: Blood, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcoholism

hmatt's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

What a great read. The writing strikes that perfect balance where it's both appropriate for YA but not too simplified. There's just the right amount of focus each on family/friendships/romance for a coming-of-age novel. I also felt like it did a great job at being didactic without being preachy re: sex ed, queer history & culture, intersectional privilege, etc.

Where I had a small issue was with the main point of conflict - it just felt very contrived to me.

I guess I just didn't buy in that it would be such a big deal to Judy that Art had a crush on Reza, acted on before she and Reza started dating, was rejected, and then kept his distance for the duration of their relationship. It's believable that she would be upset to some degree, but the extent it went to didn't make a lot of sense to me.

I was able to look past this because the author didn't make it the only plot point. Yay, multi-dimensional storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

annaminunlukea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Violence, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Grief, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Body shaming and Police brutality

achingallover's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-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

I cried a lot. I liked the note cards, especially the one on high school. 

I however didn't totally get why Judy was so angry with Art. I initially thought it was because she thought Reza and Art had been cheating on her together, and was a miscommunication. But Art hadn't acted on his feelings after Reza shut him down before his first date with Judy, so like, I really don't get that he'd done anything wrong? I understand the upset that Reza had used her in a way, but I don't see what Art had done that was so awful that she wouldn't speak to him for 6 months. Art was an interesting character, but could have done with some character development, and I'm not sure his POV added much given that he didn't seem to learn much throughout the book. I also didn't like how much pressure he put on Reza about sex, even whilst saying he wouldn't pressure him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism and Religious bigotry