Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

4 reviews

princess_marie's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Excrement, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Drug use

blouviere4's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Rape

ljustin's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was a bit of a slow starter for me, but once it got going I really enjoyed it. The pace remained slightly slow at times, but overall a good read. 

Poor mental health, and how it impacts the sufferers and those around them, is discussed a lot more in books I've found (and about time too!) But I've never read one where the main mental health theme was hoarding. Jewell writes some sections of the book from Loralei's perspective via emails to a friend and its really interesting to read her own perspective of her hoarding and how she finally comes to terms with it being a central issue in her life. 

There are many other themes discussed throughout the book; family, love, betrayal, guilt, and they all intertwine really well to make a coherent story. All the themes, and thr characters own problems, are linked back to the house they grew up in (hence the title 😉) and their mother's hoarding. Its a really well written book. 

There is also an element of mystery, in that you don't truly find out what happened on the Easter Sunday until the end. This mystery elements adds another dimension to the story and kept me reading right until the end - I actually stayed up very late to finish it and regretted it the next day!! 

Overall a 4 star read. I would recommend to lovers of family/drama style fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, and Rape

lorinew1's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship