Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

31 reviews

adampjt's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Transphobia and Car accident

emily_schlegel's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Eating disorder, Transphobia, and Death of parent

yleavy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

Some sweet moments, and I can see why people like this book. The characters all have moments of charm in that “uni student who thinks they are quirky” sort of way. The dialogue felt like it was coming from an afterschool special, with the characters using therapy words or helping each other reach a profound revelation in every conversation. Without the tense changes, the characters’ POVs would be difficult to tell apart, and the analogies were often more distracting than fitting. Examples include “our tongues shook hands” and “my heart grows thicker”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Vomit, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

imlfox's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming

e11en's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Drug use, Mental illness, Transphobia, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Eating disorder, Car accident, and Death of parent

sammyemma's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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

Phenomenal. Following the lives of two frustrating yet loveable characters in their late teens/early twenties, this book had me laughing and crying within the same chapter. The writing is concise yet detailed, creating a powerful short novel with raw and believable characters. Any fans of Normal People by Sally Rooney will thoroughly enjoy this book, but the LGBTQ+ focus really sets this book apart. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Car accident

Minor: Transphobia and Death of parent

junglejelly's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-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

5.0

I wish I hadn't read Bellies so fast but I couldn't put it down. Everything about it is just phenomenal. Easily one of my favourite books that I have read in a long time.

While incredibly sad and hard to read at times, the writing is so captivating and the characters you come to care for so easily.

A book that will be hard to forget but easy to love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Medical content

ineffable97's review against another edition

reflective sad tense

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

shortstackz's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

A beautifully written, bittersweet love story of the evolving experience of queerness. It's an introspective literary fiction that follows our two main characters: Tom and Ming. I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful the prose is, and how kind the perspective is to each of the characters as we explore how queer couples navigate and question one partner's transition journey.

Ming's character development across the whole book brings me so much joy for her, as she navigates her gender identity and finds her playwriter voice. I loved the added characterization of Ming being an immigrant from a country that would deny her existence, and discusses the very real inability to return to her home country (Malaysia) as herself. Ming brings up a lot of logistics of being a trans person, particularly a trans immigrant, that many cis-people (myself included) have had the privilege to not notice. 

In contrast we also see Tom's perspective, which I think is really valuable to see how a cis-partner might cope with their partner transitioning during the relationship. Tom identifies as a gay man, and that complicates his relationship with Ming when she begins to transition. I found sitting in Tom's head really interesting to see how he navigates his love for Ming, and his attraction towards masculine features.  

Ming and Tom love each other so much, and the bittersweet journey through Ming's transition is so beautifully complicated and heart-wrenching. At no point did I think either character wanted to deny Ming her gender identity, but love is more complicated than gender alone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming and Death of parent

Minor: Deportation

bebobel's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Eating disorder

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Death of parent