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annagwritesandreads 's review for:

2.5
dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is a 2.5 star book for me. HOWEVER, don't let this deter you. I just think this book was not for me. I decided to break down this review into 5 qualities of the book and if you like these qualities you'd like this book! However, I am not a fan of all these qualities:

1) Character Driven --> This book is solely character driven. To me? There is no plot. I am not the biggest fan of solely character driven. Even if it's character driven first, plot second, I can deal. But this is not for me being solely character driven, following 5 folks in their journies with chronic illnesses in a hospital.
2) Content Warnings --> DEFINITELY read these. Lancali puts these in the beginning of the book, but there is a LOT of heavy material in this book, some illness related, some not, so it definitely depends on how you can handle the content if you'll like this book. For me, I am a person with not a lot of triggers, so I figured I would be okay. 
3) Sad book --> Along with the content warnings, this is a SAD book. If you are not a sad book reader, skip it. If you're looking for a sad book, this would be for you!
4) Omnipresent Narrator --> The narrator here is all knowing, yet talks in first person. To me, it was not a narration style I want to experience again. I was constantly confused on how the narrator fit in the story that I was distracted from the story. If you are not picky about narrators, you'd be fine with this book.
5) Time jumps --> Time does tighten up after the halfway point, but the first two hundred pages, we were all over the map and I was confused. It felt slow to me, but I am also not the biggest fan of inconsistent/unclear time jumps.

So overall, if you're not feeling some of the qualities of this book, it probably isn't for you, but I fully believe there are folks out there that will like this book!

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