Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

28 reviews

skudiklier's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Okay I'm actually obsessed with this book. Wow.

I have anxiety and I related to Gilda a lot while reading it (though she struggles with it way more than I do, and I have a much easier time asking for help). I loved the way this was written, in genuinely every way that could be interpreted. I'm amazed by how relatable and funny this was while also being so dark and existential. I was so drawn in and cared so much about what was going to happen to everyone involved.

Honestly I have absolutely zero complaints about this book. I mean...I wish maybe we'd gotten a glimpse of Eli at the end to see what happened there? But I understand why the author may have wanted to leave some things open-ended, and I'm satisfied with what we did get to see at the end. I can't recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Car accident

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Blood, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

major cw for dissociation, depression, and anxiety

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Sexism, and Death of parent

jillgoober's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-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 is difficult for me to describe because it is so ridiculously depressing but also gave me so much validation as someone who struggles with some of the things the main character struggles with.

Gilda is a twenty-seven-year-old lesbian who accidentally becomes the receptionist at a Catholic Church. She is also a hypochondriac and spends too much of her time thinking about death. She has been depressed essentially since she found her pet bunny dead at age eleven. Her parents are the opposite of helpful and wave her off anytime she mentions her or her brother, Eli, getting mental health counseling. This book really shows how living in a household like that while mentally ill can have an intensely negative effect on a person.

This story is for sure character-driven as there is not a straight forward plot. This book is definitely not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. There are a ridiculous amount of content warnings such as suicidal thoughts, panic disorders, homophobia, etc. so reader beware.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

nicoleanthony's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mjwhitlock18's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

I don’t even know what to say about this book. This book is chaotic and realistic, funny and depressingly bleak. It is written as stream of consciousness, following an anxious, catastrophising, directionless, atheist lesbian with intrusive thoughts and existential dread, who searches for therapy and instead accidentally ends up with a job in a Catholic church. Gilda is a multifaceted, complex character, but so many of the other characters are flat and one-dimensional. But I guess given that the story is from her POV and she spends most of the book wrapped up with her thoughts, maybe she simply lacks the awareness to see them as complex. Austin’s portrayal of Gilda’s inner thoughts are very real and relatable for someone with depression/anxiety, but also may be triggering to read for some, just FYI. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Transphobia, and Vomit

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

samvansam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

sderrig's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Blood, and Cannibalism

daramillz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

The blurbs on the cover of this book use the words “humor,” “hilariously poignant,” and “funny.” I do not agree, except with the word poignant. I’m a big fan of dark humor, but I don’t think this truly falls into that category. Mostly, I just found it enormously sad. Heartbreaking. In a beautiful way, yes. And some of the side characters are quirky in a way that sidles up to funny, but for me this wasn’t a smile/sad book, except for the final page. I think my forehead stayed furrowed in concern for Gilda throughout the entire duration of reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

sweetsxrrxw's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

i had been in a reading slump during most of summer so i decided to get out of my comfort zone with this book. i usually enjoy reading rom-coms but this time i chose a contemporary fiction story because, let's be honest, the title is really intriguing. this was my first time listening to an audiobook (the narrator was really good, btw) while also reading the book by myself, as i thought it would help me get more focused. it did work! however, now i am once again in a slump, lmao.

before you keep reading: THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. i've seen many people who did not finish it because they thought it was too depressive for them. that's their opinion and i totally respect it. i saw somebody say it's kind of a lighter version of "a little life" and, even though i haven't read the latter book, i agree. this story doesn't really contain any tropes or big plots, it's more about a character study.

anyways, if i could express what i felt while reading this book i think it'd simply be: wow. it's been more than a week since i finished it but i'm still feeling in awe.  i am not a lesbian, neither an atheist nor somebody struggling with anxiety. however i don't think i have ever related to a book character as much as i did with gilda. i usually pick up books as a form of escapism but this was the total opposite. it felt like the author zoomed in onto my brain and decided to analyze and share some of my thoughts. i would love to list a few that hit so close that i began to feel kinda scared lmao. i am mainly doing this for myself so i guess you can skip this part if you're curious in reading my review!

• first of all we have gilda being in a point of her life where she can't picture and older version of herself, which leads to her lack of motivation. personally, since i was a child, i believed i wouldn't make it to past my twenties. so now, as an almost-19-year-old i feel kinda lost in life. i have no purpose and doing literally anything can feel so exhausting at times.
• then there's gilda hating being the center of attention but worrying about others more than she worries about herself. idk what made me turn into that kind of person but i think i would also rather
  endure pain by myself than call an ambulance and let everybody know i'm in pain, lmao.
  and, idk but the fact that she kept looking for mittens over and over again throughout the book and that she could never have a pet or something she loves because she would never recover from its death; her believing every single human deserves to feel validated (not herself tho)... woah, it had me whispering "so me" all the time
• gilda struggling to believe she's an actual person; that she exists physically. i can't really explain this but i everytime i try to think about my own existence and people perceiving me and being aware of my existence, staring at my reflection in a mirror... i just feel so weird. it's like a part of me can't really accept that fact? plus the feeling like you're a total different person from a month ago. idk but i felt so seen knowing im not the only one who deals with this lmao.
• feeling kind of sad when someone does something nice for her? if i am not wrong, there's a point in the book where she describes it as "heartbreaking" and god, i could not relate more to that. it's not only someone giving me a present but the whole process behind it: thinking about it, choosing it, spending time and money OVER ME. even the small steps are super meaningful to me, it's hard to believe that someone believes the things i say. i don't know everything just feels so ????? this just brings back again one of the earlier points i've highlighted: if i am totally insignificant, why would you do this for me?

so yeah, to sum up i just really related to gilda. one thing i loved about her was that, althoug she was really struggling with her mental health, her love for eleanor remained the same all along.  of course, love can't cure mental illnesses but i find so endearing how her manic and intrusive thoughts would stop everytime she was with her only to focus on whatever she had to say or to enjoy as much as she could their time together.
another character i really loved too was eli! i absolutely adored how he was always there for his sister, willing to protect her from everything and everyone. i wish we could have got to see more of his development cause he truly deserves a happy ending too :( 

i really liked the ending. i love how she ends up

emailing everyone and being brutally honest with them, trying to help them (such as in barney or eli's emails) or just sharing a bit of her past (such as her mother's death)

but the one thing i kinda disliked is

how everything seemed to be magically solved by the end? do not get me wrong, i felt super happy when she decided to move on with her life and try to achieve happiness. however, i believe that's kind of a complicated process and i would have loved to get deeper into it.

ps: the book gets bonus points for mentioning the title in the story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent