Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland

6 reviews

raelin's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-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? Yes

2.0

Content warning: body shaming, food stuff, basically all the characters are almond moms who can’t shut up about it even in their inner thoughts. Also a lot of “millennials are whiny selfish lazy pieces of crap who don’t want to do anything for themselves.”

You are supposed to love the characters, but I pretty much didn’t like any of them. 

This premise and plot could have been great if the characters did not stereotype one another and just body shame the shit out of themselves and everyone around them. It was not something I could skim past so it ended up ruining the whole read for me. 

Julia Whelan’s narration was the only reason I gave this two stars and didn’t DNF. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

tracey1981's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

1.5

It started off kinda fun, Julia Whelan’s audio narration was great, and I was feeling the Dirty Dancing hotel references which I guess is why I stayed with it even when I started to really dislike it.   It’s a bunch of rich people whining and behaving badly and having to face basically no consequences for their actions which I guess is true-to life but still annoying to read about in fiction.   A random moment that kind of epitomizes the character development in this book is when a guy reflects on how he might be able to be a good father (to the baby he’s expecting with a much younger woman who works as a server in the hotel he owns) because he was “such a great uncle” when his nieces and nephews were small. For example, he was the only one that could get the babies to burp…and he never let the parents in on his secret. Huh?! Being a good uncle means making sure you lord your skills over the actual parents?! Yeesh!  There’s also a bunch of fat-phobia/body commentary and ableism.   I was barely listening by the end. Not recommended.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

amykwrites's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.25

Almost put it down in the first half because of unlikeable characters, but kept going. Second half was definitely better. Nice ending, tied up in a bow. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

mariposa517's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, and Antisemitism

Minor: Homophobia and Infidelity

kaceyjoy's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to like this book. I definitely enjoyed parts of it enough to finish it, but every single character was unlikable, except for maybe 2 of the grandkids.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, and Classism

kdailyreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-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

5.0

I really loved this book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy