Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

12 reviews

zombiezami's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This is what The Fault in Our Stars wishes it was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child abuse, Mental illness, Outing, Chronic illness, Confinement, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Death, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual harassment, Grief, Classism, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, Colonisation, Addiction, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Slavery

hamstringy's review

emotional reflective medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

The prose is definitely very well written, but I didn’t love it. The audiobook in particular was really well done, though. I think listening to a Trinidadian accent was much better than just reading it would have been. I think I didn’t fully connect with it (definitely more ya than I could handle), and I think it definitely didn’t live up to the summary. 

I wish that they had spent more time on the magical realism and illness. I think that it just felt really misleading, especially as someone who picked up this book for those two reasons, that we just jump from Mabel not feeling well to her in the midst of off-screen cancer treatment. I can appreciate the ending for its themes of freedom on your own terms, but I do wish that they had further built up the magical realism so that it hadn’t felt so out of the blue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Cancer, Death, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Racism, Colonisation, and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy, Transphobia, Slavery, and Sexism

telliot's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Outing, Cancer, and Death

lunar_lapis's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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

Still remains the most beautiful, emotional, heartbreaking and empowering book I've ever read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, and Drug abuse

coffeeatthebeachwoodcafe's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

this book was so so good. it’s not personally any ofmy favorite tropes, but i’m really glad i read ot and i think the way it ended with audre saying that about mabel is sweet. i’m glad there was the letter from neri too. </spoiler >

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Vomit, and Outing

Minor: Slavery

switchywitchsitch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death

Moderate: Police brutality and Homophobia

tegzy95's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is an amazingly thought provoking story, and somehow even in the midst of a terminal illness diagnosis, the characters still are able to make the reader feel hopeful. I loved the characters of Audre and Mabel, and the journey that they took in finding themselves even through the difficulties and challenges that they were facing. The growth of their friendship was beautiful, and I loved every second of the journey. The inclusion of Afua and his story really made the book, in the sense of giving Mabel something to live for, and showed that she could leave her mark on this world in a significant way for someone who had helped her find herself in her darker moments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Racism, Cancer, and Chronic illness

Minor: Drug use and Police brutality

lily1304's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

Audre and Mabel have a sweet little romance. I haven't read any YA in a while, and I missed it. I appreciate how Petrus describes both Minneapolis and Port of Spain with such familiarity and love. She can paint such loving scenes of family and friends supporting one another.

It's impossible for me not to compare this book to The Fault in Our Stars. Though they have a really similar basic premise, they each deal with love and death and grief in totally different ways. I relate much more strongly to the pessimism and spiritual doubt of TFIOS than the optimism of The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. Because I'm John Green trash, I know that he wrote TFIOS based on his experience serving as a hospital chaplain for teens with cancer - an experience which made him decide not to become a priest - and that really shows in Hazel's anger and despair and "what if God - I mean, the author, I mean, Peter Van Houten - is real and wants nothing to do with us?" Petrus being a Black woman already gives her a different perspective than John Green, and I wonder what life experiences inspired her.

I didn't expect New Age spirituality to be so intrinsic to the book - to the point that it's somewhere on the border between realistic and speculative fiction. It made me more mindful of my biases and attitudes about things like astrology and past lives - I have to constantly remind myself that my own religion would sound just as weird if it weren't the dominant religion in the United States. There were some anti-medicine/"food is medicine" vibes too, though, which concerns me a little.

Despite all that... I liked the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Sexual content

katboykin's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I had very little understanding of what this book was about other than it came highly recommended by one person. I'm so glad I read it. It was honestly exactly what I needed. I truly have no critiques and it might be my favorite book I've read this year. It was just so gorgeously written. I loved each character. It had just enough themes of hope and sorrow. It is primarily a book about the black experience in America (mostly) and it is a book about the queer black experience. It deals with themes of ancestral love and connection to ancestors and spirituality. And we explored the different ways to experience all of these things through different lenses. It really felt like such a precious experience and I'm so glad I picked this up. And as someone who is not a poetry fan, the 12 poems throughout the book were so unbelievably stunning that I plan to keep going back to them throughout the year. Go read it right now!!1!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Chronic illness

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Homophobia

bennispizza's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content