You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
amandalorianxo's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
thenovelmaura's review against another edition
- 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
Personally, I didn't have a problem keeping track of the characters because I found their personalities to be very distinctive. But I agree with reviewers who point out that all of the other family members were shallowly developed in comparison to Dava. I also thought this book was longer than it needed to be, especially given the aforementioned critique. All in all, this was a strong debut and I'm looking forward to Ramisetti's next book!
Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism and Infidelity
Minor: Domestic abuse
marydith's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
onmalsshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Dava Shastri has ulterior motives.
Dava Shasri is a horrible person.
Dava Shastri's last day was too long.
Dava Shastri did not raise a single decent person.
Dava Shastri traumatized her grandchildren.
Interesting premise that did not deliver. Too many unlikeable people and no one to cheer for except maybe a son-in-law, Colin, and the four grandkids.
Dava basically gathered her family at their family compound to find how what the world would say about her death, but she ended up finding out what her kids thought about her and her actions when they were younger.
For a character driven novel - there was zero character development for anyone minus Dava (and that wasn’t even that great).
I do recommend the audiobook. Soneela Nankani was fantastic and I’d love to dive into other audiobooks she’s done. Plus, there was the song ‘Dava’ at the end.
Graphic: Biphobia, Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism
caseythereader's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
sagebrush_'s review against another edition
- 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 audiobook includes a performance of the fictional song Dava by Tom Buck.
Consider skipping this book if:
-you greatly prefer plot driven books
-you don’t have patience for a lot of characters and backstories
-you really don’t care to hear about the emotional troubles of millionaires
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity and Medical content
sleeson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
valerie_roller's review
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Death of parent
mishale1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It don’t like sad books very often. I really don’t like books that are sad most of the time. And I also enjoy a book less when I don’t like the lead character.
Why did I read this book then? I didn’t realize how sad it would be. It sounded like an amusing concept.
Dava knows she’s dying. She’s incredibly famous and incredibly wealthy. She’s done a lot of good for the world. She has her death leaked to the press early so she can see what is said about her.
Dava seems to be expecting that everything said about her will be good, she’s most famous for her charitable work after all. She is completely blindsided with two huge secrets from her past also come out and threaten to overtake the good things written about her.
She thinks it’s unfair that people would focus on scandalous gossip when she’s done so much good. She thinks it’s sexist.
But let me tell you a bit about Dava.
She leaked the news of her death to the press before telling her own children she was dying. They didn’t even know she was sick.
Now the whole family has found out, despite her trying to hide it by secluding everyone in a cabin without technological devices.
She’s also planning to have a doctor do an assisted suicide procedure for her.
The secrets that come out about her in the press?
Her kids didn’t know them either.
Now the whole family is together, they just find out their mom will die before they leave the cabin, they’ve got their children there with them, and they have to deal with the big secrets their mom kept while also processing that she’s dying.
I made it through this book but it was really just incredibly sad the whole way through. It was well written but it wasn’t for me.
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicide, and Death of parent
corinnereadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death and Death of parent