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beccakatie's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Telling the story of families caught in the American healthcare system was always going to be political and polarising, and there were some real moments of tenderness and humanity from these characters that allowed the reader to continue on with the book.
Shep was definitely the right choice to have as the lead character for this book, as he was the most complex and sympathetic. While that might be a self-fulfilling prophecy as he was the one readers were allowed most insight to, the other characters just felt one-dimensional in a way that felt almost irredeemable. So much of the plot and characterisation seemed focused around people spending most of their time hating each other. Jackson in particular, and his wife, felt like caricatures at times, and Jackson’s ending felt like it had been added for convenient shock value.
Jackson was often used as a political mouthpiece, and it often felt clumsy. As a British reader, the concept of facing bankruptcy because of a medical diagnosis is horrifying and foreign, but I feel that much of the political commentary and diatribes felt shoe-horned in for the sake of making a political point.
By the end of the book, I had come to warm somewhat to many of the characters, in particular Shep and Flicka, who seemed like the most realistic representations of people, with their complex emotions and varied relationships playing out so much more naturally than some of the other characters.
Shep was definitely the right choice to have as the lead character for this book, as he was the most complex and sympathetic. While that might be a self-fulfilling prophecy as he was the one readers were allowed most insight to, the other characters just felt one-dimensional in a way that felt almost irredeemable. So much of the plot and characterisation seemed focused around people spending most of their time hating each other. Jackson in particular, and his wife, felt like caricatures at times, and Jackson’s ending felt like it had been added for convenient shock value.
Jackson was often used as a political mouthpiece, and it often felt clumsy. As a British reader, the concept of facing bankruptcy because of a medical diagnosis is horrifying and foreign, but I feel that much of the political commentary and diatribes felt shoe-horned in for the sake of making a political point.
By the end of the book, I had come to warm somewhat to many of the characters, in particular Shep and Flicka, who seemed like the most realistic representations of people, with their complex emotions and varied relationships playing out so much more naturally than some of the other characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death
Moderate: Self harm and Suicide
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