Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

55 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Alcohol, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content

haleiyoung's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.25

This was an amazing book! The characters made me feel all kinds of emotions and the setting was so charming. AJ starts out as a brash man, but evolves into a softer version of his opinionated, unsentimental self. There are complicated relationships, second chance love stories in the background and a twist you may or may not see coming. 
Some characters are irredeemable, which this book definitely has in my opinion, but there are characters who make huge mistakes and you can't help but feel for their situation, which this book also has (and just to make it clear, those who are irredeemable are not those I feel for because

Spoiler

screw cheating bastards).
My one critique would be about the number of parentheses and information dumping the author chose to keep in during the first few chapters. As the book progressed the words came much smoother, but in the beginning I felt like I was being bogged with a bunch of need to know information but presented in an ineloquent fashion.

Now here's a part with a spoiler

But I love the adoption trope in this book. Although I HATE when books or movies portray someone dumping their child onto an unwilling party, the way AJ accepts Maya into his home and loves her like he would his own daughter, and then Amelia doing the same when they get married is beautiful. I was adopted, and seeing it portrayed in such a way that sees AJ being seen as the legitimate dad and Amelia as the legitimate mom and not just the "adoptive parents" makes me heart so happy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Suicide, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Cancer

Minor: Racism and Car accident

Nothing is explained in explicit detail. There is some insinuation to sex, but nothing descriptive. Racism- there is a brief insensitive remark made to the main character and family Miscarriage and infertility- nothing explicit, but talk around it is fairly un-emotive and swept aside toxic relationship- not the main character's relationship, but his sister-in-laws Car accident- nothing graphic, but results in death

readingbrb's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Abandonment and Death

amberinbookland's review

medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Abandonment, Cancer, Death, Car accident, Grief, and Death of parent

ree87's review against another edition

sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Cancer, Death, and Car accident

pensandpicks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

micalyia's review

emotional inspiring relaxing 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

Honestly, such a sweet little story. I loved AJ’s growth, I love detective Lambiase (he was stellar from start to end) and gosh darn it AJ’s love to maya made me so sad (if you wanna come to terms with your daddy issues, this will hurt). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

daisyfont's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident

kaitlyncookies's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-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

3.5

A cozy book that feels written especially for book lovers. The pacing is great (if anything perhaps it is too fast at times) and the characters are very loveable. Zevin takes what sounds like a cheesy plot and transforms it into something genuine and unique. 3.5/5 ⭐️ because I didn’t love the ending and a couple of the minor plot points. Regardless I always found myself reaching for this and finished it quickly.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

kaylaboevers's review

emotional medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Death, Cancer, and Abandonment

Moderate: Car accident and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility