Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Lie with Me by Philippe Besson

11 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This was my first french translated novel and my first experience reading this author's work so I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up really liking it. It was short so I read it in like three hours and it was lovely. I really liked how it was written and I think the pacing of this novel was done really well. Honestly, if I'm being honest I wasn't feeling Thomas's love for Philippe at first. I thought that he just viewed him as an opportunity that arose, but the last page of this novel was really heartbreaking. Also, the events that followed after 1984 were insane to me. It's still really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this actually happened in real life; that it's really not fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, and Abandonment

risemini's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Homophobia, Suicide, Bullying, and Death

connorkuj's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Homophobia

morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

3.5

I’ve always loved to do that, to invent the lives of strangers in passing. It could almost be considered an obsession. I believe it started when I was a child. I remember its worrying my mother. “Stop with your lies!” she would say. She used the word “lies” instead of “stories,” but nevertheless, it continued, and all these years later, I still find myself doing it.

 

Lie With Me is an English translation of French writer Phillipe Besson’s Arrête avec tes mensonges translated by Molly Ringwald. (Yes, that Molly Ringwald from the Breakfast Club or, to this generation playing Archie’s mom on the TV series Riverdale.) Somewhat autobiographical, the novel contains the over twenty years later mature reflections of a verbose writer on first love as a teen in 1984 rural France. A bestseller, it has been nominated and won awards in the last few years. More attention coming with translations, a hype train behind it with comparisons to several contemporary American gay works going back to Brokeback Mountain. (That title as part of a collection by Annie Prolux was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and if you lived through the Brokeback Mountain movie mania, I suppose that would give an idea of the discussion around this book.) Can it live up to such expectations? Having read it in two languages it remains a beautiful, if melancholic book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Suicide, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Death, Car accident, Vomit, and Ableism

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Homophobia, Death, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Bullying

jazzy_t's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Wow. 

The fact that this stems from truth makes it even more powerful, the internal feelings and throughts of the narrator gave and insight not often seen.

Think this story will be with me for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content

cady_sass's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Beautiful and heartbreaking, if not a bit cliche. 

Highly recommend to fans of Call Me By Your Name 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Classism, Grief, and Homophobia

sahar18's review against another edition

challenging emotional relaxing sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Grief

m_storky's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

this book destroyed me in the most beautiful and poetic way possible. 1000/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Suicide

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Grief, and Homophobia

remimicha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Classism