Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

I Fell in Love with Hope by Lancali

13 reviews

tamtamslibrary's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Before you read the rest of this review, pleasepleaseplease check trigger warnings. This is a VERY heavy book, and I recommend being in the right headspace to read it. I would not recommend reading this if you are struggling with loss or depression—they are avid themes throughout. 

That aside, this is a story of grief, loss, hope, and love. On the prose level, this is written beautifully—especially if you love metaphorical language and imagery. The characters are all unique and individualized, and you will never be the same after C and Neo (and if you are, well, lucky you not falling victim to emotional tragedy). 

You will be confused at times when it comes to the narrator, and I can’t stress this enough—THAT IS THE POINT. Will you like the narrator by the end? Maybe not, but this isn’t just their story. 

I listened to the audio version of this, and the fact that it was read by Lancali makes it that much more emotional. I knew very little about this book going in, but I couldn’t stop listening, even when I was left with more questions. 

The structure isn’t perfect, and it messes with the pacing some, but the characters, themes, and language make up for that. 

Again, check the trigger warnings. I am not joking when I say there is some parts where I had to pause and take a f*cking breath. This is set in a hospital with a few different sick characters who all have different relationships with others and themselves, so it is meant to be emotional.

I’ll list the main TW here (since I post the review on Goodreads as well). 
Grief, child abuse (shown through bruises and injuries mostly, but there is a instance where there is some details), anorexia, self harm, child illnesses, abandonment, and one paragraph mention of rape (not graphic or detailed, just mentioned). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Mental illness

Minor: Rape

ninarivagf's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Bullying, Rape, Violence, Self harm, Suicide, and Sexual violence

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

I wanted a book that was going to wreck me and I certainly found it. This is such a devastating, gorgeous, fucked up love story. It’s a story about friendship, about growing up, about becoming who you’re meant to be, about fighting off our demons. While a little abstract in some ways, this book is so powerful in its messaging about how we should exist on this planet and is such a phenomenal reminder about what is most important. It reminded me in some ways of “The Book Thief” by Marcus Zusak, which is another top five read for me. I’ve cried so much reading this that my eyes are barely able to see. Highly, highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

lucyford's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The story was unlike any book I’ve ever read, and the characters were also really unique, especially the protagonist. What I loved most about this book was the ending, and all the wisdom the author shared about life and death, it was really comforting to hear. The only reason I didn’t rate it higher is because the writing isn’t really my style, and I found it really unnatural at times, especially in the dialogue, and also the jump between timelines got in the way of the story a bit at times (in my opinion). However, I still highly recommend reading this book for the perspectives and emotional rollercoaster that it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Gore, Suicide, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Grief, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Abandonment, Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, and Violence

bri__'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was very slow, but I understand that it needed to be slow for the depth of the characters to be sufficient. I cried towards the end. The writing is beautiful, but felt overly quotable at times. I also found that the characters didn't speak their age, and it was never actually specified how old they were. It was difficult to understand the situation when travelling between timelines and povs, which made the structure quite messy. Please check content warnings, this book is very heavy with dark topics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Vomit, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Violence, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Child abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

addie_b's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is about a person named Sam, Sam and their friends who live in the hospital, they all have different illnesses and problems within their lives.  Sam isn't like most people, Sam isn't necessarily a person either. This book made me cry more than five times, it explains the problems all the friends are having while Sam explains their own, and if you relate to certain people in the book it hurts even more. It's hard to explain how much it hurts to read this, you form a connection with the characters  then lose them all in the 410 pages of this book. I really love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit

gargs's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Vomit, Rape, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Eating disorder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Abandonment, Body shaming, Cancer, and Homophobia

fairybekie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Suicide, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Bullying, Gaslighting, Child death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Death

sobemoji_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I loved this book, I found it very inspiring. I love every character and appreciate Lancali for writing this book in a way that you could really connect with it on a deeper level. I was a bit confused at the end, but after looking at some videos made by the author, it made a bit more sense. This book, I feel, is meant to leave you with a message. It’s not a standard beginning to end kind of book. 
It was unique and different from what I’m used to. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Ableism, and Self harm

Moderate: Bullying, Body horror, Suicide, Addiction, and Homophobia

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

cassie12_21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Prepare to fucking CRY! This book was emotionally devastating in a good way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Death, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Self harm, Child death, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Ableism, Cancer, and Alcohol