Scan barcode
A review by lenoreo
Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal
4.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/06/27/lycanthropy-and-other-chronic-illnesses-by-kristen-oneal/
4 stars — Well, that was entirely unexpected!! I actually started off listening to the audiobook for this one, and while I was really enjoying Ms. Nankani’s narration, all of the online chatting made for a tedious listening experience (because she had to read off EVERYTHING). And confusing on occasion. So I switched to the ebook and enjoyed it much more. Which is not to say it wouldn’t work for anyone, but something to consider.
I was a bit hesitant over the main character being BIPOC when the author is not. I personally don’t feel like anything came across stereotypical or insensitive, but…you know…I’m white. Honestly, other than a few bits and the unique names, Priya and her family could have been white, so take from that what you will.
The really wonderful diversity bits come in the disability representation IMO. I think you could really tell that the author has experience with a chronic illness, because all of the feelings were very raw and believable. As someone who doesn’t have a chronic illness (unless we’re counting mental health, which is its own beast), I very much appreciated getting this glimpse into daily life and all the different struggles and joys that come with it. Now, saying all that, I wouldn’t say it’s the focus of the book, but a very strong component of who Priya is *now*, and something that links her to her new online friends.
The online group (Oof, ouch, my bones) was an absolute delight. So many different kinds of people dealing with so many different kinds of struggles, sharing so many different kinds of little joys. I loved them every time we got a glimpse of them.
Priya was pretty easy to connect with for me. I could understand her frustration with her body, with the changes in her life, and how much it disrupted who she is. She had moments of great positivity, and moments of total YA/NA angst and whining…justified in my opinion, but still. I loved that she had a bit of a peacekeeper vibe to her in the group, because that’s totally my dynamic and I get that. She had such an interesting journey to go on, and I felt all the highs and lows with her.
I also really appreciated her friendship with Brigid, and what that brought to her life. They were hilarious with one another, and yet their friendship wasn’t perfect either. But man, it was like they’d been friends forever…they just had that dynamic. Not that there weren’t uncomfortable moments when they went from online to in person, but it all just felt very real. I guess I just really loved that their relationship wasn’t without its own bumps, because that’s just the way things go in life…it felt very real.
The lycanthropy thing was both hilarious and crazy and disturbing and a strange way to draw a correlation with chronic illness. I wasn’t expecting so much of it, but I enjoyed myself. And dude, Spencer was awesomesauce.
I think one of the things that didn’t work for me wrt the online chat component were the number of references that the reader was entirely left out of. Sometimes I could type out the web address and see it myself, and some I could infer, but some I couldn’t even figure out what to Google. It’s like, if you’re old and not with it (like me), you might feel lost at some of the jokes. I almost wish there were old person footnotes or something.
Anyways. Even though this is a bit more NA age wise, it felt more mature YA for me. I didn’t mind that, because sometimes I wonder where all the rest of the less mature folks are when I read these books (I know I wasn’t a mature University student). I was also surprised at the lack of romance in this one. Again, not a bad thing, I was just surprised. It didn’t take away from the story though, instead we got the story of an epic friendship…
4 stars — Well, that was entirely unexpected!! I actually started off listening to the audiobook for this one, and while I was really enjoying Ms. Nankani’s narration, all of the online chatting made for a tedious listening experience (because she had to read off EVERYTHING). And confusing on occasion. So I switched to the ebook and enjoyed it much more. Which is not to say it wouldn’t work for anyone, but something to consider.
I was a bit hesitant over the main character being BIPOC when the author is not. I personally don’t feel like anything came across stereotypical or insensitive, but…you know…I’m white. Honestly, other than a few bits and the unique names, Priya and her family could have been white, so take from that what you will.
The really wonderful diversity bits come in the disability representation IMO. I think you could really tell that the author has experience with a chronic illness, because all of the feelings were very raw and believable. As someone who doesn’t have a chronic illness (unless we’re counting mental health, which is its own beast), I very much appreciated getting this glimpse into daily life and all the different struggles and joys that come with it. Now, saying all that, I wouldn’t say it’s the focus of the book, but a very strong component of who Priya is *now*, and something that links her to her new online friends.
The online group (Oof, ouch, my bones) was an absolute delight. So many different kinds of people dealing with so many different kinds of struggles, sharing so many different kinds of little joys. I loved them every time we got a glimpse of them.
Priya was pretty easy to connect with for me. I could understand her frustration with her body, with the changes in her life, and how much it disrupted who she is. She had moments of great positivity, and moments of total YA/NA angst and whining…justified in my opinion, but still. I loved that she had a bit of a peacekeeper vibe to her in the group, because that’s totally my dynamic and I get that. She had such an interesting journey to go on, and I felt all the highs and lows with her.
I also really appreciated her friendship with Brigid, and what that brought to her life. They were hilarious with one another, and yet their friendship wasn’t perfect either. But man, it was like they’d been friends forever…they just had that dynamic. Not that there weren’t uncomfortable moments when they went from online to in person, but it all just felt very real. I guess I just really loved that their relationship wasn’t without its own bumps, because that’s just the way things go in life…it felt very real.
The lycanthropy thing was both hilarious and crazy and disturbing and a strange way to draw a correlation with chronic illness. I wasn’t expecting so much of it, but I enjoyed myself. And dude, Spencer was awesomesauce.
I think one of the things that didn’t work for me wrt the online chat component were the number of references that the reader was entirely left out of. Sometimes I could type out the web address and see it myself, and some I could infer, but some I couldn’t even figure out what to Google. It’s like, if you’re old and not with it (like me), you might feel lost at some of the jokes. I almost wish there were old person footnotes or something.
Anyways. Even though this is a bit more NA age wise, it felt more mature YA for me. I didn’t mind that, because sometimes I wonder where all the rest of the less mature folks are when I read these books (I know I wasn’t a mature University student). I was also surprised at the lack of romance in this one. Again, not a bad thing, I was just surprised. It didn’t take away from the story though, instead we got the story of an epic friendship…