Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

I Fell in Love with Hope by Lancali

9 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review

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

tyghe_bright's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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

From the outset, I knew I'd love this book, even if the story was imperfect. The *writing*. The prose in this little book is STUNNING. It's made me catch my breath several times.  The writing is impressionistic, which I *love*, but may not be for folks who prefer narrative plot-driven novels.1

The prose remains strong throughout, though not quite as strong when she's focused on plot. And the plot often suffers from "that's not how it works" with unrealistic portrayals of life in a hospital. Something the author knows about, because she's struggled with autoimmune disease. I also really felt the author's youth. It feels a little immature at times. 
 

There's a "twist" about the narrator which is handled a little clumsily. It's hinted at heavily, and then explained explicitly, where it would have been better left more open. 

Some reviews say it needed to be more accurate and realistic... but I disagree. If I were her editor, I would have encouraged her to go MORE abstract and fantastical. Her work shines most when she focuses on emotion and sensation.

Overall, it's a beautiful, if slightly imperfect, book with lovely, tender, tragic relationships. I still recommend it and will look for more by Lancali. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Ableism, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Body shaming, Self harm, and Religious bigotry

soyabeanos's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This is my absolute FAVOURITE book hands down. There is no contest, I've reread this book at least 5 times and it would've been more had I not lent both of my copies out LOL. I cannot express how much I adore this book with a passion

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

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

ava_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Death, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body shaming, Blood, Child abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, Alcohol, and Pregnancy

amethystandherbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This book left me sobbing so many times, even from just the first line.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical content, Death, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Death of parent, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, Child abuse, and Body shaming

Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Pregnancy

attar_2665's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is hauntingly beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Rape, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse