Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Die andere Hälfte der Welt by Christina Sweeney-Baird

33 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Overall this novel was a breeze to get through; just enough diversity of prose and mystery to keep you turning the pages. I wished the idea that “power is bad no matter who has it” was more pervasive. It seemed like almost an afterthought or accidentally included. There was quite a bit of “cops are good and necessary” which was off-putting. You would hope the new world described wouldn’t include the violence of police. It felt a bit like the author threw in the notes from sensitivity readers all in the last 100 pages as an afterthought as well. Most of the characters had the same personality, even though it seems to be trying to be a feminist story. It came together in the end well. I would recommend it as an easy read if you aren’t hoping to take it too seriously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Infertility, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Deportation, Gun violence, Alcohol, Genocide, and Fatphobia

jishwathebig's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide

emmaura's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infertility

Minor: Suicide

alisafrancyne's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Infertility, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, and Grief

nanirump's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

This was a quick read with lots of short chapters. I found the multitude of characters a lot and I wasn't particularly attached to any of them and got them confused more than I didn't. I liked the varied exploration of peoples' experiences and it hit differently after the world actually having gone through a global pandemic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia, Suicide, War, Violence, and Pregnancy

mccleark's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

marshiereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I thought the premise was intriguing, but the science and perspectives fell short. They told mostly 30-40 something’s comfortable economically storied while telling us about really interesting things happening elsewhere like the civil war in what was China. The other thing is having literally lived through a pandemic now, the world didn’t react like it did in real life. They had one riot in the book about air travel and nothing else was mentioned (outside of the civil war in china). There was no anti-maskers or anti-vaxers, which I think should have felt good but it just made me angry honestly.

I didn’t like most of the characters you saw a decent amount of (Lisa and Katherine in particular), but found other people much more fascinating yet they were talked about for only a moment (the Russian woman and Rosamie). Amanda and Dawn were probably my favorite perspectives, with the southern standford researcher being the most forgettable. 

I think, if you’re going to do that large of a cast of characters, don’t make most of them from the UK or working in the UK, it’s literally most of them and they’re mostly sad and grieving which makes sense but doesn’t add to the overall narrative that a multi-perspective story generally does.

It’s worth a read but only just.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Child death, Sexism, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Vomit

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is so ridiculously good, I don’t have words. This is a dystopian reality that is 100% believable and so, so interesting to think about and reflect on. Weaved through the compelling stories of multiple women across, predominately, Europe, it expertly asks the question, how different would the world be without men? How do we allocate labor and essential jobs, food, sperm (literally)? How to the small amount of remaining men function, how do they react? Does this change the way women view and accept their sexuality? My god I could talk for an hour about how fascinating this is. Just do yourself a favor and read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Child death, Alcohol, Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Misogyny, Murder, and Self harm

zombiewilhelm's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Child death

leannanecdote's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, War, and Ableism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Transphobia, Trafficking, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault