Reviews

Oh god, where should I start with this one. I mean, you can see the rating - you know I didn’t like this book, but it’s hard to sum up my feelings either way. It’s a very confusing book for me because I didn’t feel like dying when reading it but then again, I was kinda frustrated and I also can’t just ignore facts.

But okay, let’s start with positive things:

a) this book made me feel… I felt like crying on multiple occasions so good job Lancali - you can write emotional scenes really well and I applaud you for that

b) C… Coeur is the only one of the main cast of characters that I genuinely liked - the others were fine, sure (most of them at least) but he was the only one that I really didn’t want to succumb to his illness; Neo was also pretty cool but I just couldn’t resonate with his annoying personality

c) Eric… you know what? This cranky son of a bitch nurse was my favorite part of this book; he is genuinely a great human being who loves these children who are all on the verge of death - not only does he take care of them medically but he also wants to see them happy which I appreciate… besides, he let them keep the cat and that’s all that matters

d) Hee… I liked the cat, go figure

e) Carl… I want the spin-off book on Carl and his tattoo career - just a slice of life story without any sickness drama please

Anyway, that’s all. Now I can trash this book.

I want to start with the technical problems I have with this book. First of all, I have noticed grammatical mistakes which is a big no no for me as a student of English. I’ve heard that the book was self-published which kind of explains the lack of an editor that this book needs desperately but it’s not an excuse. I might be picky with these things but I can’t help it. Also, the author can’t for the life of her decide whether to use past or present tense. It’s just confusing. If I remember correctly, she uses present tense when she is writing those before chapters and that’s annoying. Also, the structure of this book sucks. Sorry not sorry, the middle of this book felt like an ending and then just a very random sequence of events happened that was just very convenient. All in all, this book needs an editor. With it, my opinion would be very different from my current one.

Moving on, the way the characters speak feels like we’re in a telenovela. Or in a C-tier Marvel movie - you decide. I swear, everyone just has these deep thoughts all the time. All of their conversations are very philosophical and it’s just too much. No one talks like that. Sure, it makes the book very quotable - I’ve never underlined this many quotes in a book that I disliked - but otherwise, the dialogue has no added value. It just makes the book seem oddly theatrical.

Another thing that bothered me is the illnesses of the characters. Sure, I can accept that Sony’s lungs were failing and C’s heart was practically dead already, but what’s Neo’s illness? What’s Hikari’s? I know that Neo had anorexia and he was a subject of domestic abuse but you don’t get hospitalized for such a long time because of that. Also Hikari - yeah, she was depressed, I get that but again, it’s not a reason for a long term hospitalization. I feel like the author mentioned oncology but then again, she also mentioned cardiology. I’m just really confused. I know that the point were their mental issues but you know, the illnesses could at least be real not just some fictional figments of the author’s imagination.

And god, don’t even get me started on Sam (the narrator, I mean). They pitied themself so hard and I was just fed up with them. Besides, they confused the hell out of me - especially in the second half of the book. Up until the end, it was never specified who they were, why were they in the hospital or even whether they were a boy or a girl. The revelation was just a bunch of bullshit to me at the end because their “condition” was so vague and poorly described that I couldn’t feel bad for them at all.

Anyway, I’m fed up with this book. It wasn’t as bad as some other books but that’s not saying much. I’m giving it 2 stars because I see some value in it but honestly, I can’t say I get the hype around it. I wish I would have read the description before reading it because I definitely wouldn’t pick it up if I knew what it was about but unfortunately, I fell in love with the cover. I guess you really can’t judge the book by it’s cover, huh.

_emilialou's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

saudiprincess13's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

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