Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

38 reviews

dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Child death

Minor: Homophobia

emilybartonspinks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Cancer, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

cheaploaf's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I feel like this book could’ve been shorter and still accomplished the same result. Felt pretty slow. I enjoyed the writing style. The book wasn’t bad, just overall fine. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Minor: Pregnancy

kelly93's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Child death, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse, Cursing, and Medical content

sarahflanders's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, and Grief

rmcmillin7's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Cancer

writersrelief's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

 

A decades-spanning family saga, Ann Napoliano’s heart-wrenching, lovely novel HELLO BEAUTIFUL takes more than a page from another American classic, Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN. 

 

HELLO BEAUTIFUL begins with William Waters, whose wealthy parents’ bereavement over the untimely loss of William’s older sister causes them to withdraw. Neglected and unloved, William finds solace on the basketball courts, but a knee injury makes a professional career unlikely. During college, he meets the bright and ambitious Julia Padavano—along with her three sisters Sylvia, Cecelia, and Emeline. Over the next few decades, the family confronts devastating loss, depression, and riffs that tear them apart. When one of the sisters fall ill, will the Padavano family finally be able to reunite? 

 

Like its inspiration, HELLO BEAUTIFUL is a tearjerker that wears its heart on its sleeve. While some readers may feel their emotional buttons being pushed a little too aggressively, it is still easy to emotionally invest in the characters, their individual journeys, and how their family dynamics change over a long period of time. This is because Napolitano draws her characters with carefully coordinated and nuanced strokes. These aren’t characters that readers will always like or agree with—Julia, specifically, makes several understandable mistakes in the aftermath of a traumatic event—but their motivations are always clear. Readers familiar with LITTLE WOMEN will have an especially fun time observing the parallels and reversals, but will probably feel impending dread when one of the characters states “I’m Beth” (if you know, you know). 

 

An emotionally compelling story of an ever-changing and evolving family, HELLO BEAUTIFUL is a lovely, luminous book for readers of character-driven fiction. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Lesbophobia

sarah_simpkins's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Death, Abandonment, Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Child death, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

rachelpacz's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This book is full of sadness! I like the story telling. I like the set up, but it felt like gut punch after gut punch. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer

alexisramosreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting and Toxic relationship