Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

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

4 reviews

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

katierobertsonshaddix's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, Infertility, Medical content, Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Dementia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Suicide, Self harm, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

pollyhall's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Cancer

koplomps's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Toxic relationship