Wow just amazing.
This is such a beautiful and moving about a mother and a son.
It dealt with grief so well.
Exceptional

The poetry format worked so well in One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days. The sparse writing doesn’t tell, its characters are gradually revealed to us through their habits and interactions with our protagonist. The story follows one boy’s grief, from being ill himself, to then the dying of his mother and the neglect of his dad and being taken care of largely by his Nana Q, although at times he has to console her. A child trying to look after an adult. It was the poems of his going along to the betting shop with his Nana, or shopping, the relationship that they have was depicted so well. As was his relationship with Freya.

I thought Giles Paley-Philips also described being alone, to the backdrop of being at school, well. With it all going on around him and being disengaged. I could relate all to well to those poems. And him taking back some of the power – reclaiming control by choosing to not go to school.

I was in tears by the end. I think this is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

This book is very short, and is written in verse.
I've read quite a few books now formatted like this, in verse, but this one just didn't move me like other have. Even though the subject matter is pretty deep all around, it surprisingly didn't move me the way I hoped it would. It was still good though, just not great.

Heart wrenching. beautiful book of grief.A unique style of writing a book in verse.A young boy who wants to see his ailing mother.A book that is so moving so heartfelt that it stayed with me long after I closed the book,#netgalley#unbound

What an incredibly powerful book.

I loved that this was written in free verse as it made every word more important. The book handles the theme of grief in such a graceful way, it’s definitely one I will be recommending.

The only think that threw me a little was that the days were all out of order, I know this is intended but for someone who likes a linear time line this was a little off putting.

I've struggled with the writing format in this book, I've ended up dipping in and out of it because it felt like hard work
Sorry not for me

This is a beautiful novel written in verse about a teenage boy coming to terms with his mum’s illness and death. Whilst his mum is very ill he contracts pneumonia and so isn’t allowed to visit her. I loved the honesty throughout this book – it’s clear this boy loves his mum and misses seeing her but he also focuses a lot on his physio Freya who he feels understands him. There is so much for him to process, I really felt for him. There are a few moments in this book that made me cry – my mum died when I was in my 20s and I empathised with the pain he was in. I loved his relationship with his Nana Q, I was so glad he had her to walk beside him as his father seemed to grow more distant. All in all this is a beautiful, honest and moving novel and I recommend it.

Publishers Synopsis:

He will be allowed to visit his mother soon. His mother who is terminally ill, his mother who he has been barred from seeing as he recovers from his own bout of pneumonia.

Until then, with the help of his physiotherapist Freya, he must navigate his increasingly empty and isolated existence: his father, who finds solace in the bottom of a glass; his Nana Q, whose betting-slip confetti litters her handbag; his friends, who simply wouldn’t understand.

Time passes with the promise of soon, but one hundred and fifty-two days later the boy will come face to face with his grief, and move beyond to a world full of possibility, hope and love.

This beautiful poetic masterpiece was the story of a boy, full of emotions, in a world that wasn’t fair. It was so compelling I felt every emotion and every heart-aching moment. I loved that this book wasn’t entirely consecutive in it’s days. I felt that would be too predictable. A super unique story, something i’ve not read before, or anything structured like this. I think it’s safe to say we have all been affected, or know somebody affected by, cancer and it’s never a happy story to tell. But each story is different, and I sincerely loved this one, as heart-wrenching as it was.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book and think we all need a Nana Q in our lives.

My sincerest thanks to Netgalley and Unbound Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

4/5 Stars

I just finished this book about a boy whose mom is sick and he also has an illness that sound an awful lot like Cystic fibrosis, however it is never actually named.
This book is written in free verse so it was a quick read. Admittedly, this was a first for me, so it took some getting used to. It was a poignant story about loss, pain both physical and emotional. Growing up during all that too!
I’m not too sure the story flowed for me, it felt a little choppy, almost like journal entries but with many days skipped so it missed things and the ending felt quite abrupt to me as well, it caused me to have many questions, like what happened to the main character’s caring nurse/therapist Freya? The end left me wanting answers

Written in free-verse One Hundred and Fifty Two Days is heavy hitting, clumsy, emotional, heartbreaking.
This may not be for everyone but I felt it was a welcome change to my shelves.

In the words of the author himself, this book can be described in 3 words: Grief, Hope and Love.

It took me less than half an hour to finish this book. Since it wasn't listed as poetry on Netgalley, I picked up the book expecting it to be in prose obviously. It's verse format left me delightfully surprised and as I happen to love reading poems, my curiosity was heightened.

It was such a heartbreakingly beautiful read. Giles Paley-Phillips has conveyed the complex emotions of an unwell teenage boy incredibly well. The cleverly constructed verses in the story made reading it more impactful. The prose poems provided a different yet somehow a more poignant look at the pain and grief of the young teen. There were quite a few verses that can be applied in many situations and I'm keeping a couple of them handy, in case, I ever find myself in need of some.

The level of emotions in the story was so powerful. The brevity of the story doesn't decrease the emotional depth it offers. The fact that this semi-autobiographical ends up enriching the emotions I experienced from the story.

What I loved even more about this book was that it ended on a hopeful note. It showed us that there's light at the end of every tunnel.

This tenderly written tale of grief and hope might make even the hardest of hearts shed a tear or two.

Not for me sadly. I didn’t like the way I it was Written out,
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me.
I tend to struggle with novels written in verse if I feel like the format doesn't add anything to the story. Jason Reynolds' books are an excellent example to me of stories that are enriched by the choice to tell them in verse. This book, however, didn't seem to benefit from it. On the contrary, it really just felt like choppy prose with line breaks. This, combined with the fact that the story wasn't told linearly, meant that I had a really hard time getting attached to the characters or the plot.
I realized when I finished this book that if I hadn't read the synopsis beforehand I would've had a really hard time understanding what was going on. Very little happens in the book, and what does happen isn't explicitly explained. The synopsis helps to clarify things, but a lot of the things that made me interested in the synopsis were hardly present in the book. It focuses very little on the main character's struggle with not being able to see his mom, and instead on his fixation with his physiotherapist and his grandma's gambling problem.
I don't know. It was a quick read, but unfortunately I got very little out of it and I don't think I'll remember any details from this one for very long. It was also described as adult fiction, but to me read a lot more like a middle grade. Not a huge deal, but something to note.

One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days by Giles Paley-Phillips was a roller coaster of emotions. I cried. I was angry. I cried some more. And at the very end, a smile. The poems were heart touching and also heart wrenching. Especially poignant in today’s medical landscape.

One Hundred and Fifty-Two days made me cry.
Giles Paley-Phillips doesn't sugarcoat, doesn't romanticise, but instead tells the heartbreaking story of a boy whose mother is dying while he's not allowed to visit her because he recovers from his own bout of pneumonia so realistically you feel like you know the family from the first page. In beautifully written, short but impactful prose poems the reader is faced with the impossibility of dealing with a situation like this, and how every family member sinks into a different kind of despair that echoes on in your own chest.
And yet it is not a hopeless book. It shows how it is possible to come back from the blackest darkness, how sadness and despair will not last forever and that, even if it never truly disappears, there is always hope and recovery after grief.
With a realness and gentleness reminiscent of Patrick Ness's "A Monster Calls", Giles Paley-Phillips tells the story of a boy who goes through the very worst thing that can happen, but also leaves a trail to follow, ending on a hopeful note.
I loved this book with my entire heart, and would really recommend it to everyone!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime/thriller reader therefore am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A beautifully written, moving and emotional story of a young boy who is extremely unwell who cannot go visit his terminally ill Mum.
The story told through the eyes of the boy tells of how he deals with all his emotions both positive and negative and in the end manages to find a bit of hope and positivity in the extremely hard situation.
What made the story resonate even more was it was told in verse, all of which flowed and moved the story along perfectly. Many of the verses as well could be isolated and read out of context of the novel and be extremely meaningful.

A lovely and slightly unconventional read that highlights things we have gone through and how we deal with emotions is unique to us, This a book that is very easy to relate to and connect with.

This was a beautiful but strange novel told in verse about a boy who cannot be with his terminally sick mother because he himself is struggling with a very nasty bout of pneumonia.

For me it was a bit of a surprise this was in verse, since I expected a normal novel. However, I do think that it allowed to convey the story well. There are a lot of short poems in there, and while some of them would work out of the context of this novel, most really fill a role in this particular story. So, it did take me some time to get used to it, but after a while I enjoyed reading it. The utter sadness of the story came across as well as the little signs of positiveness near the end.

A good read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!