Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Four for the Road by K.J. Reilly

5 reviews

livelaughlesbian99's review

challenging dark emotional

4.0

If you’ve ever felt like something caused your personal apocalypse while life went on normally for everyone else, you’ll get this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Child death

okafon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Suicide

kisa_044's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts

planner5002's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I don't really know how to review this book, because I felt so many different things throughout the story. At times, the story seemed hopeful. At other times, this book was really hard to read. 

Throughout a lot of this story, I was scared the main character was going to hurt himself or someone else. That made parts of this hard to read, but also really hard to put down. I was invested in the story, but maybe a little too much. I will also say that the "twist" wasn't really a twist. However, it was so important to the story that it was important to include.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Murder

Looking back, I wouldn't have started this book if I wasn't sure I would finish it. There's a lot of really heavy things to go through, and the resolution is a necessity.

tiredcath's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oh my god, I was completely enthralled in this novel.

After a drunk driver kills his mother, Asher sets himself on a self-destructive path of revenge.

I cannot express how sincerely good this book is, how much it touched me, made me feel. The characters are honest, brutally honest. Kids dealing with death, an elderly man trying to live with a version of normalcy. Asher is a unique protagonist, where you're almost rooting for him to do the wrong thing because you feel his pain, you feel the guilt and confusion, and mostly, the frustration with death. Reilly does an incredible job at balancing the tragedy of grief, humor, and an adolescent reaction to a life they can't control.

The writing style isn't for everyone. it's repetitive (meaningful so) and like an endless stream of consciousness flowing from Asher's mind to the page. Dialogue is also somewhat structured oddly, but once you're invested you don't notice it anymore. I personally really appreciated the way the characters interacted and the way the plot slowly unfolded in front of you.

Didn't expect to love this as much as I did. There's so much heart, so much pain, and love between the characters. Asher, Solane and Will, Henry and Evelyn. Their stories are important. Their healing is important.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent