Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

6 reviews

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

cursivewolf's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

While the writing was cheesy at times, it was a great read. The book made me so mad, but not in a bad way? It’s not a bad book, just upsetting. It breaks your heart. I liked the article clippings in between certain chapters, it added to the suspense at times. And it added a lot of context.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, and Addiction

Minor: Rape

jayastar's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Suicide

adriennne's review

dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Rape, Trafficking, and Cancer

jennivardier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

thrillofthepage's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.25

Maple Street is a quiet and picturesque block and one that many covet, but after a sinkhole ruins the neighborhood park a chain of events are set in motion that reveal that this perfect block has a lot of darkness behind closed doors.

I was really excited about this book when I received it. Especially after seeing it compared to Little Fires Everywhere, which I loved. Good Neighbors is the very definition of slow burn and it took a third of the book to arrive at the accident described on the back cover. Typically, I am a huge fan of slow burn novels, but this one just didn't flow well. The first third felt like a lot of fluff meant to buildup to the accident, but it was too long and could have been done in a few chapters. I almost DNF at this point, but decided to stick with the story to see if it would payoff.

Unfortunately, the payoff never came and the book got really dark. As a thriller lover I can handle dark plots and storylines, but for some reason Good Neighbors felt like it went too far. I did not like any of the characters, even the kids, and none were ever redeemed. This made it hard to connect to the story and feel any sort of emotion on behalf of the characters. We witness the very worst of human nature and the envelope was pushed too far.

I think I know what the author was going for, but it just didn’t work for me. This could very well be a case of “not the right reader” and others might enjoy the in depth character development and study of the neighborhood hierarchy.

TW: child abuse, child depth, allegations of rape, drug use/abuse, addiction, mental illness

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for my advanced copy.  All opinions are my own.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Excrement