Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens

9 reviews

3eckyz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

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bookish_leslie's review against another edition

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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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oneillkd's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

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ohsteen714's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

casaveli's review against another edition

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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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samlyn90's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

sarabook's review

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

znvisser's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious 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? No

4.0

Ever since reading The Time Traveler's Wife as a teenager I've been a sucker for (romantic) time-travel stories. And yay for me, this was a wonderful execution of that trope! I definitely understood Lucy's need to get out of her 26-year old life, because eesh, every aspect of that gave me stress. The story after the jump is built with so many lovely human elements: a hot and capable husband, a group of loyal and loving long-time friends, a smart kid that forms a friendship with a lonely older person... The story effortlessly switches between funny and emotional and it never looses its pace while you go along with Lucy to figure out the pieces of her 'new' life. With this I finally found the fun and easy read I was craving two weeks ago!

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abookwanderer's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens is the feel-good, time-jumping, tear-inducing romance I needed at the moment. It’s refreshingly original despite also being familiar—especially if you’re a fan of films like Big, which I watched on repeat as a child. I wanted only the best for Lucy and everyone she loved.

At twenty-six, Lucy feels stuck. Stuck in a job where she is unappreciated, stuck in a leaky flat, stuck in her dating life, so when she stumbles across a mysterious wishing machine, of course she wishes to fast forward to the good part of her life.

Cousens is wonderful at creating empathetic characters, and I felt for Lucy from the start. She’s trying her best, but seems to be unfairly bombarded by life at every turn, although, with hilarious results. I definitely laughed out loud throughout this one.

While I adored the romance—Sam is a beautifully imperfect man, and I was even wishing for chapters from his point of view, although I knew that would ruin some of the plot—the heart of this story for me was Lucy’s relationship with her future son Felix. Their interactions stole every scene, and I wasn’t surprised to read in the afterword that the author’s own children inspired Felix.

And while it might have seemed obvious in the beginning how this story would play out and end, I found myself unsure about the direction the story was going at several turns, which was a pleasant surprise. In fact, I felt sure I knew the twist it would take, only to discover I was wrong—and not upset about it at all.

Besides the romance and Felix, much of the story is dedicated to Lucy’s career and friendships, and Cousens succeeds at showing how important both of these aspects are to Lucy, how they define who she is just as much as her family, making her a much fuller character.

The Good Part left me with a warm, gooey feeling in the center of my chest, that I found myself thinking about for days, returning to the feeling like a touch-stone. I feel confident it will be among my favorite books for the year!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s and Sons and Netgalley for providing me with a copy.

Check out my reviews and book playlists at A Book Wanderer

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