The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
hanreadshardbacks's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love books that end like this because they let my imagination run wild. Thanks for letting me be apart of your story, even if it were for just a moment.
easta98's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
alelumino's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Child death
lilymitzel's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I don't think this was very well written and the whole plot was pretty preposterous, but it did make for an easy and enjoyable read. A lot of the dialogue didn't feel very organic, and it took me a while to figure out who all the characters were. I'm also not sure that all the plot lines completely resolved themselves which bothered me.
missprint_'s review
3.0
Eight years ago Saira helped diagnose her best friend Harper's cancer and conferred with her doctors about treatment options. It wasn't enough to save her. Since then, Saira has been working toward helping other kids the way she couldn't help Harper.
Saira is used to balancing friends and her boisterous Indian-American family with schoolwork--especially after graduating from med school at sixteen. But none of that prepared her for the rigors of her new internship in pediatric oncology. Or dealing with her mother running the pediatric department in the same hospital.
When she starts to fall for a patient, Saira is willing to do whatever it takes to try and improve his chances in treatment--even if it means risking her career in Symptoms of a Heartbreak (2019) by Sona Charaipotra.
Symptoms of a Heartbreak is Charaipotra's solo debut.
Saira is a winning narrator with a lot of book smarts and a charming naivete that underscores the ways in which growing up often has nothing to do with learning more and everything to do with getting older.
There's no way around this novel being a book about cancer. Saira is the lead doctor treating several patients and just like in real life, not all of them get better. While the novel ends on a hopeful note, the story remains bittersweet as it acknowledges that surviving cancer isn't the same as curing it.
Despite the novel's hospital setting, Symptoms of a Heartbreak does have a lot of humor. Saira has a big extended family to support her along the way including her doting parents, sassy grandmother, and caring older sister along with more aunties, uncles, and cousins than you can shake a stick at. Charaipotra expertly depicts the unique chaos of Saira's life (and family) with tender and snappy prose.
Symptoms of a Heartbreak is a unique blend of humor, hospital drama, and a sweet romance. Recommended for readers who have always wanted an aged down Grey's Anatomy and anyone with a soft spot for Doogie Howser.
Possible Pairings: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo, Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen, Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon, Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration at BookExpo 2019*
Saira is used to balancing friends and her boisterous Indian-American family with schoolwork--especially after graduating from med school at sixteen. But none of that prepared her for the rigors of her new internship in pediatric oncology. Or dealing with her mother running the pediatric department in the same hospital.
When she starts to fall for a patient, Saira is willing to do whatever it takes to try and improve his chances in treatment--even if it means risking her career in Symptoms of a Heartbreak (2019) by Sona Charaipotra.
Symptoms of a Heartbreak is Charaipotra's solo debut.
Saira is a winning narrator with a lot of book smarts and a charming naivete that underscores the ways in which growing up often has nothing to do with learning more and everything to do with getting older.
There's no way around this novel being a book about cancer. Saira is the lead doctor treating several patients and just like in real life, not all of them get better. While the novel ends on a hopeful note, the story remains bittersweet as it acknowledges that surviving cancer isn't the same as curing it.
Despite the novel's hospital setting, Symptoms of a Heartbreak does have a lot of humor. Saira has a big extended family to support her along the way including her doting parents, sassy grandmother, and caring older sister along with more aunties, uncles, and cousins than you can shake a stick at. Charaipotra expertly depicts the unique chaos of Saira's life (and family) with tender and snappy prose.
Symptoms of a Heartbreak is a unique blend of humor, hospital drama, and a sweet romance. Recommended for readers who have always wanted an aged down Grey's Anatomy and anyone with a soft spot for Doogie Howser.
Possible Pairings: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo, Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen, Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon, Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration at BookExpo 2019*
trez_the_mermaid's review
1.0
I had to DNF this. The main character and the characters in general are just ridiculously frustrating. This all happens in the first 20 or so pages, so none of this is spoilers.
Saira is a young prodigy, becoming a doctor at 16. As expected, she wants to impress the adults around her and had a lot of anxiety about making a good impression. So much anxiety that Saira wakes up at 3 in the morning on her first day to make sure she’s totally ready for work. So tell me WHY she constantly back talks to the head of the hospital she works for? Just CONSTANT back talk. The woman is mad Saira is late for the first day. Yeah! No duh.
That being said, the hospital head also apparently doesn’t know child labor laws? She’s mad that Saira can’t work more than 40 hours and can’t work at night. Like, she is a child. We just SHOULD not have hired her.
That’s probably going to sound awful because, oh, she’s a prodigy yada yada yada, but being a doctor does require long hours and working at night, why give Saira a position she literally cannot do? It’s not her fault, but there’s literally no way to know if she can do the job.
Overall, I could not continue the book with how ridiculous the characters were. I didn’t even get far into it. I know I didn’t even hit the main story. But oh my goodness, it is SO BAD.
Saira is a young prodigy, becoming a doctor at 16. As expected, she wants to impress the adults around her and had a lot of anxiety about making a good impression. So much anxiety that Saira wakes up at 3 in the morning on her first day to make sure she’s totally ready for work. So tell me WHY she constantly back talks to the head of the hospital she works for? Just CONSTANT back talk. The woman is mad Saira is late for the first day. Yeah! No duh.
That being said, the hospital head also apparently doesn’t know child labor laws? She’s mad that Saira can’t work more than 40 hours and can’t work at night. Like, she is a child. We just SHOULD not have hired her.
That’s probably going to sound awful because, oh, she’s a prodigy yada yada yada, but being a doctor does require long hours and working at night, why give Saira a position she literally cannot do? It’s not her fault, but there’s literally no way to know if she can do the job.
Overall, I could not continue the book with how ridiculous the characters were. I didn’t even get far into it. I know I didn’t even hit the main story. But oh my goodness, it is SO BAD.
jcharlton's review against another edition
2.0
YA literature but I’m rating compared to grown up stuff. i didn’t know I was starting YA book until I started. I couldn’t get behind this 16 year old trying to be an adult but still was a kid. And the first day of
Residency not starting until 9am made me disbelieve the rest of the residency stuff too.
Residency not starting until 9am made me disbelieve the rest of the residency stuff too.
liralen's review
3.0
Fun premise, but my strongest enduring takeaway was that this sixteen-year-old, at least, does not have the emotional maturity to practice medicine. She has the skills and education (somehow), but so many of the decisions Saira makes are very fuelled by her teenage emotions. I guess there has to be some kind of push and pull there when this is the premise of the book—professionalism against teenage idiocy?—but I wish Saira had learned something from that. Instead we just have an Evil Villain Is Evil, whose valid concerns about Saira are written off at the end of the book as mental unstability. So...I read it for the fluff, and it turned out to be too fluffy for me. Serves me right, I guess!