fkshg8465's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
What a very sad saga. Hated the ending. Hated the plaintiff attorney's backstory. Hated the second person narrative. All that out of the way, thought the topic of ableism was delicately handled. We need more stories addressing ableism. Most of us suffer from this bias unconsciously. We need more of these stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Eating disorder, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Ableism, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Rape
twylghast's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Where the hell do I start with this? It was just one mess after the other.
One character did two fairly bad triggering things and was never held accountable or even seemed to be aware of either of them, much like the author (I’ll just say the character was the cop, which honestly only makes it worse). The teenager girl, the older daughter, was basically saddled with three mental health issues treated in such a shallow way all it did was basically reinforce to the reader who’s never experienced those things that you can snap your fingers and be better, that having your family “love” you should be enough to cure everything…even if this “love” is basically pretending they see you and forcing treatment, as if that would ever be as simple as it was made to be here…in short, this is a Hollywood book and this is not a compliment.
Feel free to waste time on it if you like, but please don’t believe everything is as simple as it’s made to be in this book.
One character did two fairly bad triggering things and was never held accountable or even seemed to be aware of either of them, much like the author (I’ll just say the character was the cop, which honestly only makes it worse). The teenager girl, the older daughter, was basically saddled with three mental health issues treated in such a shallow way all it did was basically reinforce to the reader who’s never experienced those things that you can snap your fingers and be better, that having your family “love” you should be enough to cure everything…even if this “love” is basically pretending they see you and forcing treatment, as if that would ever be as simple as it was made to be here…in short, this is a Hollywood book and this is not a compliment.
Feel free to waste time on it if you like, but please don’t believe everything is as simple as it’s made to be in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Violence
Moderate: Self harm and Vomit
Spoiler
The cop character rapes his wife and is very violent to a teenager unnecessarily. Never held accountable for either, by other characters or even himself. Their daughter is made to be bulimic, a self-harmer, and steals things from stores. This is treated in a really shallow way and never addressed in the book meaningfully.meghin's review against another edition
I had to leave when sooooo
Spoiler
the rape happened
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
olivia_goode's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Hmmm. This book got off to a GREAT start, and I was really enraptured at first. But by the end I couldn’t find anything redeeming in charlotte or Sean. This book walked so that My Sisters Keeper could run.
Content warning included in this review, there are a LOT
Content warning included in this review, there are a LOT
Spoiler
also when Sean essentially raped Charlotte to “prove a point” was the moment I was no longer on board. You feel bad for charlotte until you remember that she ruins her only friends life….
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Rape
elleselat's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Rape
digthewarmth's review
challenging
emotional
informative
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? Yes
5.0
Beautiful look into multiple POVs of a family and friends in how they cope with raising a child with a severe physical disability, and how they deal with a moral dilemma. It greatly makes you reflect on the question How do you define a life that's worth living?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Rape
Moderate: Pregnancy
More...