Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle

4 reviews

christinefitz's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

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Mike Gayle has delighted me again with a sweet but sometimes painful story that had me gasping (more than once). Another pandemic novel, Gayle examines loneliness through 82-year-old Jamaican immigrant Hubert. He’s on a quest to prove to his daughter that he’s got plenty of friends and she shouldn’t worry about him from Australia. Alternating flashback chapters give Hubert’s present circumstances a deeper poignancy. As all my favorites do, this novel turns a group of trauma-inflicted misfits into a real community. A great examination of relationships and aging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Abortion

purplepenning's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Hubert Bird is a dapper, elderly widower who was born and raised in Jamaica before immigrating to the U.K. as a young adult in 1958. When we meet him, he has shut himself off from the world, spinning stories of a vibrant life of retirement to satisfy his daughter Rose's expectations during their weekly phone calls. Cracks start to form in his isolation when he gets a friendly, chatty, persistent new neighbor and when he discovers that Rose will soon be visiting from Australia. As Hubert attempts to create the life he has been pretending to live, we see moments from his past that have led to the life he's living now — and that may empower the life he wants and needs.

An unexpectedly touching, well-crafted story of isolation, connection, love, and friendship. Perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, The Reading List, and other stories of curmudgeonly elders opening their hearts and finding their communities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy

spinesinaline's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was wonderful and also there was no need for it to be so sad

This book is beautiful and heartbreaking, and a lovely portrait of a senior man finding new love for life. It packs a punch but it’s such a beautiful story with so many characters I’d love to know in real life. 

Thanks to Grand Central Pub for a review copy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Grief

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy

aimzthereader's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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This book is pure magic. I need to come back and write more of a review but I want to capture my in the moment feelings which is happiness at the wonderfulness of thos book and the characters and the sadness that it’s over. I cried multiple times while reading this as well as had a myriad of other emotions. This is the type of book you want to hug and make everyone read it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Alcohol

Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Medical content, Abandonment