Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

130 reviews

biscuitgale's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.75

Wow, what an unexpected journey in navigating grief and finding unexpected care from unexpected places! The characters are well developed and have very realistic pain and motivations. I did guess the twist in the story somewhat earlier on, but the story also reveals it to us pretty quickly. Despite the there being tension, this book wasn’t stressful to read. I do have issues with how adamant the book is on blood relationships over found family, but I did enjoy the story overall.

By far my favorite character is Marcellus the Octopus. My least favorite is Cameron; although we do see growth he blames everyone and everything else instead of looking at his own actions.

The way he behaves can’t entirely be chalked up to not having parental figures, at some point he needs to take accountability for his actions but never does. Quite frustrating!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Cancer, and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse and Addiction

amaya_s's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Pregnancy

teetasse'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, and Grief

m_maria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

The book's action unfolds slowly but leads to quite unexpected events. I loved octopus'es diary entries as a part of the narration.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Cancer, and Death

megan_mac_'s review

emotional hopeful reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, and Pregnancy

alastaire's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

3.75

Very heavy, death focused. 
I loved each of the characters but thought the general message of the book was a bit off. More info on that in spoiler:

I thought they were setting up a found family story but then it didn't matter to the characters (as in they didn't form a closer familial type bond with each other) until they discovered that they were actually related by blood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, and Cancer

Minor: Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Animal death

moond4ncer's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Drug abuse, and Suicide

meghanm404's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cancer, Confinement, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Blood, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

kteliza28's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Listened to this in audiobook format. Honestly almost abandoned it from how slow paced it was and how I wasn’t loving the narrator pitching her voice for Cameron and the tone of the man’s voice used for Marcellus. The first half of the book really focused on Cameron and Tovas lives separately and it was hard to imagine how they ever end up sharing a storyline. I also struggled to see how Marcellus and Tova would ever grow exceptionally close.
This book took a real turn in the second half though when I almost put it down for good. Everything really shifted when the twist was revealed and from there I invested.
The way the story wrapped up so neatly and beautifully really made me change my mind about this book. I was wavering between 3.5 and 4 stars but landed on 4 after Tova and Marcellus’s farewell.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Death

Minor: Suicide and Cancer

kcarney86's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, and Child death

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Addiction