Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

29 reviews

geekybobbin's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

lovealwaysadi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Terminal illness and Toxic relationship

erinoco's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Terminal illness

kell_xavi's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

3.0

Nina LaCour is skilled at writing teenage girls and grief. The synopsis of Yerba Buena felt a lot different from her young adult work, but the writing style, that slow fluidity of language, the skill and noticing, expanding of the characters, is consistent with LaCour’s previous work. This novel starts in a familiar place, with two teenage girls experiencing strong emotions and traumatic events, and it grows in a new way: how does grief, love, anger, trauma show up over years, across spaces and jobs and interests and people. 

The strength of this book for me isn’t that it move away from the audience LaCour has previously written for, but that it takes that seed of youth and stretches it a little further. This book allows curiosity and restlessness to lead to contentment, allows past events to be difficult while fading into the background, allows more responsibility and decision-making for the characters and those they know. 

I didn’t personally relate to this novel as much as I did to We Are Okay. I was an often saddened and felt heavy with the events and characterization. I wasn’t strongly attached to Sara or Emilie, and their friends and family—Colette, Pablo, Alice, Jacob, Spencer, Annie (side note: I hope this is a reference to Nancy Garden?)—were disappointingly blank façades, sketches. There wasn’t much to breathe into beyond cocktails and decor. There was a continued sense, not so much of uncertainty, as a belief in failure. I hope others find something special in this book, and I think the potential is there, but I’m not the right person. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

Minor: Medical content

overdose

rgibbons's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

This book started out rough with very emotional and challenging life situations and didn't really improve from there. Just too heavy for me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Trafficking

Minor: Confinement, Violence, and War

ienbdri's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

Was this book realistic or perfect? No. Is it a good read for when you need a sapphic relationship and people that successfully battle their childhood demons? Absolutely. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

janicew9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

zarap's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

One of my favorite books of this year so far. Nina LaCour's writing isn't embellished or flashy, and it doesn't need to be. Sara and Emilie pulled me in from the beginning and I loved getting to know them better and then finally seeing them start to grow together. There's a lot of darkness in places, especially in the beginning (check CWs), but also so much warmth and light and healing. Not a perfect novel perhaps, but perfect for me. If Nina LaCour decides to write copy for cereal boxes, I'm there (but I'd definitely prefer novels). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

lacey_wi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia and Dementia