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marmelane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Cancer and Death
abernathy_33's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Homophobia
racnew88's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Cancer
mariabacterium's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
korikam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
ivi_reads_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
At its heart, this book explores themes of family ties, sisterhood, loyalty, and betrayal.
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death and Lesbophobia
ly555's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death and Abandonment
Minor: Lesbophobia
alicetragedy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book made me so, so angry and incredibly disappointed. While I loved the premise of the book (gotta love a family saga!) and I also wanted to deeply love all the characters and engage with them,... I just couldn't, they just did nothing for me. They felt two-dimensional and flat, with no real development throughout the 20+ years the novel spans.
One main problem I saw with the novel was that somehow, most of the challenges the characters overcome are dealt with over a couple of pages: challenge, quick problem solving, no harm done, let's move on. This was disappointing, because “Hello Beautiful” definitely tries to cover a lot of ground when it comes to certain important topics and themes: mental illness, parenthood, grief.
But: A large chunk of the story didn't feel real or credible, because it seemed to ignore a lot of societal stigma around the various topics it explored.
The plot then just sort of scurries along and things fall into place.
In spite of all that the novel was still hard to put down and I still enjoyed the prose, with a lot of the general “vibe” and little plot bits reminding me of “The World According to Garp” and “Rabbit, Run”. I still hoped, to the last few chapters, that *something* would happen, something out of character or some sort of unexpected denouement. Maybe if it hadn't been on every single bestseller list accompanied by rave reviews, I would have been less disappointed and wouldn't have wanted to re-read “Little Women” instead.
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death
emminkirjakasa's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Henkilöhahmot tuntui kuitenkin jäävän liian kaukaisiksi, vaikka monen elämää seurataan aivan alkutaipaileesta asti. Silti jokainen tapahtuma tuntui liian yhdentekevältä, eikä oikeen mistään saanut kiinni.
Jos kerrontatyyli olisi ollut hiukan erilainen, olisin voinut rakastua kirjaan. Ymmärrän ehdottomasti miksi tämä on osalle parempi lukukokemus kuin itselle.
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Abandonment
Minor: Child death
nialiversuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Child death and Sexual content