Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

5 reviews

martapsalvado's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This is one of those books that are far from perfect, but so entertaining. Some things that the characters did or think didn't reasonate with me and some aspects of the plot itself didn't make much sense. The ending compensated some of these flaws. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun reading this and loved the descriptions of Positano. The character devolpment is there too, although sometimes it felt a little abrupt. A good summer read overall! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, and Sexual content

Minor: Abandonment, Medical content, Alcohol, and Child death

ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, and Terminal illness

henyouise's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

I have very strong feelings both ways for this book- so I've compiled a list.

BEWARE! SPOILERS BELOW!

Pros: The setting is STUNNING. I loved all the descriptions of Positano and it did make me look up flights to Italy.
I also liked the ending it felt nice to see Katy take someone else's feelings into account. And the final moments on the boat was so precious.

Cons: Time travel?? How did we get to 1992? Maybe I don't understand magical realism but that was a weird bomb to drop 4/5 of the way through the book.
For most of the book Katy is so wildly selfish. I get that she's supposed to be grieving and that we all grieve differently but it just felt like she was abandoning Eric/her whole life because she couldn't deal with her mom dying. She's weirdly attached to her mom for most of the novel and needs to go to therapy.

For a long time I wanted to give this book 2 stars but it wraps up nicely and didn't make me angry to read anymore. So 3/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

This is quite possibly the Italian escape novel. Immersive, light, and magical. It’s almost like the book is four dimensional because I could basically taste the fresh Neapolitan food, feel the brush of warm sand between my toes, smell the sea, and trek up and down the steps of Positano and beyond. 

Rebecca Serle’s writing is very comforting. I think that’s the best way to describe it. It’s not abrasive or trying to prove anything earth-shattering—it just tells a story like it’s been written by your grandmother. Like you’ve heard it before, but find it special every time you read it. This book instantly felt like a memory to me, a summer in Italy to find my way back to myself.

There are some plot holes and parts I didn’t quite understand the reasoning for, but overall I really enjoyed this one. Bellissima! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Minor: Child death and Medical content

betsygrace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious relaxing 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? No

4.0

A firm four stars! I really enjoyed this; it was a light read that kept me wondering what would happen next— but not in a stressful way. Super makes me want to visit Italy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Infidelity