Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Der Papierpalast by Miranda Cowley Heller

219 reviews

velmad's review against another edition

4.5

I really liked this book. 

Very surprisingly , the main characters experiences with family mirror a lot of mine, right from the grandmother to the mother . 

The generational trauma resolved itself slightly with every generation but it was still very apparent that this is a very troubled family line. 

The author , still have a pass more than I think she should have to Elle's mother.  She wasn’t a good mother .  She was neglectful and selfish and narcissistic.  She allowed her men to abuse her daughters emotionally and put her daughters in harms way. It still sounded a bit like her mom was a wonderful person but maybe , true to my life , that next generation will come out even cleaner than Elle and Anna. 

I can see how she ended up having an affair.  I don’t like it but I see how it happened . 

Most definitely this was a difficult read to get through but it was very well wrote. 

The only marks I took off were because I often couldn’t keep track of the characters and jumping back and forth was done differently than I had ever read before.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

sazzzberry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Stalking, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

abbiekwilliams's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Incest, Infertility, and Terminal illness

kate_not_kate's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Potentially with spoilers.

Nope it was definitely not the summer read I was hoping to get. 3 different underage girls are getting rapped. One by her stepdad, other by the brother and main character by her stepbrother. Till the end I don’t understand why she blamed herself what happened with her “DeFiNeTlY not a serial killer” (yes he could be the one) stepbrother.

The real good part of the book was Jonas and Anna. The stories with them were really interesting to read. 

But still, be prepared to read a book where in the second chapter a 9 year old girl is forced to give bj her stepdad and where parents don’t see all the abuse that happens. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

lavienne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, and Abandonment

tessroth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Had this one on the shelf for a while. The author made me feel like I was at a cabin in the woods in summertime, which I enjoyed. Subject matter high key dark though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Death

Minor: Miscarriage and Terminal illness

mdal26's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, and Gaslighting

jessiehg's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

In a lot of ways it’s great
- the time cuts exploring a similar theme across generations are so close to being too obvious and trite, but there’s enough complexity and difference that they work well
- the characters verge on 1 dimensional, but they’re also not overwritten which I’m grateful for
- Elle’s motivations and the deep rippling effects of her childhood on her choices are very well done, as is the reasoning (absolution) behind the affair finally occurring
- the end will bother some, but I think it was the only option 
- I saw most things coming, but you could take that as well constricted and neat rather than obvious

There’s something here about starting in a simplistic idea of lifelong longing finally acted upon, and then simultaneously strengthening the reader’s belief in that “cosmic connection” and (through an unreliable narrator) revealing flags of the flawed, bad (but not in the way they think they are!) people who would in reality not ride off into the sunset but likely hurt each other like all partners do. Jonas is a dick to his wife, Elle is obviously coping with her mistakes and explores those things (eg lying, distance to husband). 

Once I hit about halfway I found it difficult to put down. I was deeply affected. But I didn’t LOVE it. 

This may be better on screen than on paper - what verges on flat in the book could be fleshed out with great acting.

It helped me to keep reminding myself that this is my parent’s generation, and in a lot of ways her reactions are very well written for that.

Starting this book in the affair and love triangle is indicative of the target audience. The average airport/rom com reader wants empty longing and sex as a hook to then become invested in the real story. Personally, the real story is what it took for me to give any amount of shits about the affair. An understandable and commercially wise choice, but not to my liking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Terminal illness

kristinj1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I went back and forth on giving this book 5 stars, or 4.75 stars. I tore through it in three days and felt like I saw pieces of myself in the main character - and, honestly, I have no quibbles with how it was written. So I landed on 5 stars, even though I think I hated some of the story. The sexual abuse of kids by adults and by a stepbrother was really, really terrible to read. I'm glad the author didn't dwell on it in the writing in order to traumatize all of their readers, yet I am still questioning if something that clearly has such a major impact on the main character's life (not to mention her mother's before her) should have had more time devoted to it in the writing? But that becomes dangerously close to trauma porn, which would mean that's all I remember from this book. By tucking it away in our main character's mind, it also tucked it away in our mind. Still flagging there, causing an irritation whenever you went across it, still making itself known. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Miscarriage, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment

claudia_moreira's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment