Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens

30 reviews

schweibertsm's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? No

3.75

I wasn't sure if I'd like this book. Early on there were parts that absolutely made me cringe, but Sophie Cousens nails what it's like to be a working mom. I've never felt more seen then the scene with Baby Amy being sick. By the end of this story you are rooting for Lucy and her family and the life she wants. How many times have we all wished our lives away? But life is found in the small moments and the mundane.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy

bookish_leslie's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Spice: 2🌶️
Romantic tension, under clothes groping, sex scenes that fade to black before anything explicit happens 

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My Thoughts

This book wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but I liked it. The cover design had me expecting a typical romcom, and while there was a romance subplot, this book was no romcom. It was a character-driven story about choices, family, identity, grief, and self discovery; a story about regrets, acceptance, love in all its myriad forms, second chances, and the both/and of life.

I think what I loved most about this book was how thought-provoking it was. What makes us who we are? What truly matters in life? If I could forget the experiences that have led to my grief - would I? Or in doing so would I lose parts of myself I’d want to keep? What matters more - remembering or living? What are my current choices saying about what my future will be like? What bright spots in my life might I be overlooking amongst the grievances? What role does the philosophy of “fake it until you make it” play in personal and professional growth? These are just some of the many things this book prompted me to think about.

But the relationships between the characters really shone for me in this book, too. Sure, the main character, Lucy, acted questionably and immaturely at times, but I think her reactions to what happened to her were very real too. I especially loved her interactions with 7-year-old Felix, but it was heartwarming to see her grow into her relationships with Sam and Amy, as well.

Of course, these growing connections made the ending feel more bittersweet. On the one hand, I was happy that Lucy got the opportunity to go back and live everything over again first hand, but I also felt so invested in her future timeline family and in her feelings of belonging and capability. I was sad to say goodbye to them, especially with no guarantee that she’d ever even meet Sam or have Felix, Amy, and even Chloe. And while the epilogue hinted that she did indeed meet Sam, I do wish we’d seen her actually meet him, so their happily ever after together was more assured.

This probably isn’t the book for you if you’re a plot-based reader, as it was largely character driven, but I do think it would be a good fit for people who like a bit of depth to their stories, philosophizing about life, or who are feeling nostalgic for old 90s movies like 13 Going on 30 (although in this case it was 26 going on 42). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content

dsforbus's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death and Death

lanayagraham's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

British mash-up of 13 going on 30 and Freaky Friday. This magical realism was both laugh-out-lound funny with relatable humour and fun banter, but it also held really heavy elements of the true cost of skipping to "the good part." Overall, it was great, with a perfect ending. However, some aspects were cliché and a bit TOO fantastical for a pseudo realistic book... but in the end, worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death

katherine_alexis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death

ohsteen714's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, and Dementia

sandlynn's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

Just loved this book. I know the basic story's been done before, but this was done so well. The characters rang true to me and the situations were both humorous and deeply emotional. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death and Death

casaveli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-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? Yes

4.5

For a moment, I thought this book wasn’t going to end in the way these typically do. That let my brain peruse the possibilities of that ending as I continued to read and let the book unfold how it may. While it can be classified as a cliché fictional story about traveling to your future life to make you appreciate your current life more, I thought it was well written, witty, and a lovely reminder that we do truly only have the now and it’s what we make of it that matters most. Putting our best foot forward, taking each day as it comes, making the most of it and being our truest selves. 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Dementia

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩...𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥.

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:
26 year old, Lucy Young, is tired of her mundane life. One day she stumbles upon a wishing machine and wishes to skip to the good part of her life. The next day, she wakes up to find herself in her forties with a handsome husband, a high-level job, and two children. Unsure if it's real or if she's skipped a chunk of her life, Lucy must decide if she wants to go back to her past or embrace her new reality.
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Skipping to "the good part" sounds great, but in actuality I think it would be pretty scary waking up one day to an entire life you have no memories of making. 

Sophie's writing had me completely invested in Lucy's predicament. I understood her struggles adjusting to her future life — suddenly becoming a wife and a parent to two kids, learning about how her old relationships and friendships held up through the years. On top of all that, the daunting possibility that maybe the wishing machine wasn't real to begin with and instead she might have memory problems. I was getting so anxious and overwhelmed for her!

But what balances this terrifying situation are the side characters, especially Sam and Felix. Sam was incredibly supportive and understanding with Lucy and Felix was so sweet, trying his best to help Lucy out so he can get his 'mom' back. 

𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 — 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?

Though this took me a while to get into, once I was one-third of the way through, I was completely hooked! At first, Lucy wasn't super likeable but her character growth was well done that by the end I was rooting for her. I wanted her to be happy whether that was going back to the past or staying in the future. 

Read if you like:
📺 13 going on 30 movie
⏳time travel
📺 magical realism 
⏳ self-discovery 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

mishale1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

3.25

My grandmother used to say to never wish away days. She said you have to live through the bad days because as life goes on you really wouldn’t ever want to give up any time. 

I thought of that when reading this book.

My god I found this book so sad for so much of the story.

Lucy is in her mid twenties. Life is rough. She shares an apartment with three other people, only one of which is a true friend and the others and their partners are kind of strange. 
She’s not where she wants to be at work.
Dating sucks.
The only good part is her friends really. The author definitely managed to convince me that Lucy was pretty unhappy with the state of her life at this time.

After one particularly bad day, Lucy finds herself making a wish on a wishing machine to “get to the good part” of her life. She wakes up and suddenly she’s in her early forties. She’s married to a wonderful man (that she doesn’t know). She has kids who are strangers to her. She’s incredibly successful at work. She has a beautiful home. And she has the wardrobe and shoe closet of her dreams. Life looks pretty good. But she can’t remember getting there because she basically jumped forward 16 years! 

As Lucy tries to figure out her circumstances she starts to wonder if maybe she didn’t time travel. Maybe she had amnesia or something of the like. And things keep popping into her mind that she feels like she shouldn’t remember.

But then there’s little Felix. He’s her son. He truly believes her and wants to help her find the washing machine so he can get his real mom back.
I was shocked that little Felix wound up being one of my favorite characters.

As Lucy starts to debate whether she can go back, and whether she wants to go back, she is confronted with something shocking and bad that happened during the past 16 years. This result of this event is likely to determine whether Lucy will go home if she can.

Like I said, I found so much of this book to be sad. I was sad for twenty-something Lucy. Then I was sad for forty-something Lucy. I was sad for the things she couldn’t remember and then I was sad when she started to remember. 

I think the overall message would be that there are always going to be good things and bad things happening in your life simultaneously. And being twenty-something is fun sometimes even when it sucks. And being forty-something is still fun too. It’s not about getting to the good part, it’s about enjoying the good parts whenever they happen.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death