Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

108 reviews

mrsjburgin's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

gabsoto20's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

“When your love for a person is so profound that it’s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

seventhswan's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.5

With the possible exception of The Color Purple, this book has the best opening line I've ever read. The crafting of this story is excellent throughout. I loved William's character and story arc, even when the choices he made were infuriating, and found each of the Padavano sisters to be compelling, three-dimensional characters.  There were characters I wanted more of at the beginning and the end of the story, particularly Charlie and Alice, although I recognise this would have made for a very long book. I don't think this is a story with main characters, and trying to shoehorn Julia/Sylvie/William into this role at various times meant the world as a whole lost something for me.

For some reason, despite being technically excellent and enjoying reading it while it was in front of me, the story took me a long time to wade through. I appreciated that the plot moved quite quickly, as otherwise I feel it could have fallen into bleak and melancholic territory. I was also irritated by the death at the end of the story, but I can't work out if it was actually just thrown in as a plot device or if I just liked the character who dies a lot. There were also some subplots that were introduced and then never seemed to go anywhere or get mentioned again. 

Overall I would recommend this book as a compelling and moving set of character studies, but I wouldn't say it bears much resemblance to what the blurb and marketing suggests. This is not really a story about romantic love, but about the choices we make when there are no good choices in all kinds of relationships.

I'm excited to read Little Women next and see how many parallels there are between the two books, as other people have said!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

cnannery19's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

I can relate so much to the sisters in this book for deeply personal reasons.  My mum passed away from a brain tumour in 1991.  This book reverberates in my heart for so many reasons,  and will stay with me for the rest of my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Pregnancy

casira's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

ariana3's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

I just don't think I was really in the mood for this book. And it felt soooooo long for no reason. About a family and the complicated dynamics within.

4 sisters, who practically are attached at the hip, sort of drift apart in adulthood, after their father dies and their brother-in-law tries to commit suicide (who then divorces one sister then another sister falls in love with him and they get married).

What love, loss, guilt, and grudges can do to an entire family and their community. Good, just not my vibe right now. And just felt so so so long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

ggiralte's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

i have a lot of thoughts. but i think i’ll start with the first one which is my thought at the end. i liked and disliked the ending

(bc it was sad).

i think the ending tied it up in a bow even if not all the ribbon was there. 

time for honesty. i hated julia as a character. her pov through the first half of the book had me close to hitting my head with the book. i was so frustrated with her, and that only continued. i could see part of myself in her, with how she was a planner, but she never thought to look at her “plans” with a different lens. she thought she was high and mighty. i don’t pity her. she did it to herself. 

at first i didn’t like the whole

sylvie and william thing. i thought it was a little odd. but as it went on, i realized how perfectly they fit. and it was really wholesome, so incredibly sad at the end when she passed. i’m proud of their character developments, sylvie with herself and william with alice/caroline.

i would’ve liked an epilogue to see a little taste of the future but i’m ok with how it ended. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

jenga049's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, and Death of parent

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Hello emotionally devastating book. 
Personally haven’t read little women in about 10 years but I wholeheartedly believe this is 20th century little women 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt