Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Een jaar met jou

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Een jaar met jou, by Julia Whelan

33 reviews

leesahbee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a good book, but I did a *lot* more crying in this book than I expected to going into what looked like a fun British romcom.

Spoiler

What I loved:

All the poetry references and literature academia vibes were great — I liked that aspect of the book a lot.

What I feel conflicted about :

- a family dealing with their son slowly but surely dying of cancer is absolutely a central theme of this book. This character is the male romantic lead so that’s also a central part of the romantic relationship. Not a fun, light romp. I didn’t know this going in.

- I actually don’t feel like I ever got terribly invested in their relationship.

What was done really well:

The pacing of how to fast-forward through big sections of time and tell the story of what went on during that time was done really well.
- I appreciated how the book ended. For all that Jamie’s still dying, it still felt like a happy, hopeful ending, which is impressive.
- this book genuinely made me think a lot about the different emotional ways to experience and work through dying and losing loved ones. Hence all the crying, but it was a more thought-inspiring book than I expected.

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loritatum's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

4.0

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amiefw's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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nathalialvs's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I laughed out loud and I cried like a baby. This was way more emotional than what I expected, but it turned out to be a very well-executed and beautiful account of love and growth. A lot of great literary references and dialogues between the characters, which was lovely and also came in as a way to reinforce the book's message in several occasions.

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stardust_heidi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh. My heart. So good. I loved the romance a lot (grad student/professor relationship FYI) and how it developed, but I was not expecting the conflict twist and the beautiful, winding way that Ella realized the truth a out her goals and dreams.

It’s a beautiful audiobook with the author narrating.

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anovelglimpse's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

My thoughts are all over the place after listening to this book. I was impressed that this was Whalen's debut. It felt like it was written by a seasoned pro. The first part of the book felt like a true adventure to Oxford, the beginning of a romance novel. The second part felt more like a love story in a women's fiction novel. In my mind, it's hard to reconcile the first half with the second. Which is sort of like real life when I think about it. Anyways. It was a beautiful story. It was very emotional, and I needed to keep those tissues handy. The end even managed to surprise me. It was a great listen which is what anyone would expect when it comes to a book narrated by Whelan. It was good. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

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megbooks02's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

“Maybe, once you come to realize that there are no answers, you learn to live with the questions.”

I have conflicting feelings about My Oxford Year. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t necessary appreciate the twist that occurred halfway through the story. I think the writing was great, but I struggled with the storyline in the second half of the book.

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