Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Longbourn by Jo Baker

12 reviews

megmajor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Gun violence, Blood, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Miscarriage

acasiamae's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Child death, Pedophilia, and Animal death

pandorasirens's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism, Gore, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Violence, War, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Cursing, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, and Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol

below_average_baker's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Animal death, Blood, Slavery, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, and Death

literary_lady602's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, and Miscarriage

queenstaves's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Masterfully captures the pastoral aesthetic and pedestrian pace of Austen et al, but within the context of a world that is extremely difficult and uncertain. The book also does not linger on the depressing parts of the world for texture or shock, but has them as a very matter-of-fact aspect of life. 

The P&P characters, I think, are truly represented, but with the sheen of idealism gently and frankly pulled back. People are allowed to be complex, and the world is allowed to be both large and grotesque, and small and precious. 

It is a very slow pace, but the prose is very purposeful. It isn't meandering. The pace is set by the material limitations of a servant in the regency era. It is hard for me to pay attention to a lot of slow paced books, but I paid attention here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and War

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Miscarriage, and Pedophilia

Minor: Racism and Rape

The explicit tags are limited to a single chunk of the book

as a character's backstory

. The sex trafficking is paired with poverty and famine during the war section, but it is not explicit. The miscarriage is somewhat detailed briefly and is called a "mishap", so you can skip ahead once you come across that. It is only described once, but mentioned twice. The p*do is a part of a secondary character, and I think the interpretation is extremely well done. It is only ever a threat, which I'm not putting in spoiler tags. The aspect is not about plot, but it peels back the veneer of the world without being exploitative. It is mentioned in the war section with the sex trafficking, but only in passing and never described. The racism is structural, and it is illustrated without being exploitative of it. The slave trade of the time is regarded without flinching, but also without exploitation. For example,

Mr. Bingsley is in the sugar business; a servant worked on a ship that stopped in ports where people were still traded as slaves in the sugar industry; we see aristocrats talking about how much they love sugar; we see an Englishman evaluating people as slaves in the foreign port on behalf of some gentleman; we see Jane hope for Mr Bingley's proposal. It's all a part in the reality of the world, and woven in as a fact, rather than a political point; but the way it unfolds is very powerful. Very show, not tell.

stephvn01's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

suklaa's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

Ugh. I almost DNFed this but I managed to pull through. Was it worth it? NO! 

I thought the concept of this book was really interesting. I mean a story about the background characters of Pride and Prejudice does sound interesting. But it's not. It's boring as hell. First of all, the main characters suck. Sarah is annoying, whiny and extremely jealous. I didn't find James that interesting. Polly and Mrs.Hill are just there. The only character I liked was Ptolemy but the narrative made an 180 with him and made him a creep at the end. The characters from Pride and Prejudice which we know and love are shit on in this book for no reason. Lizzie seems entitled and when she gets married to Mr.Darcy she seems unhappy?? Mr. Darcy doesn't get a lot of spotlight but when he does he's such a dick. He is literally canonically nice to his servants but here he acts like they don't exist or is very rude to them. And suddenly he cares a lot about Lizzie's appearance? Wtf. Also Mr. Collins is written sympathetically for some reason. 

Ig this book showcases the grim realism and dirtyness of the 1800s BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. The author talks so much about feces and menstrual blood like what the fuck??? Also there's so much racism and pedofilia in this. It's disturbing. 

If you're a P&P fan, don't bother reading this cuz it just shits on the original book. Jane Austen would've hated this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia

Minor: Miscarriage and Sexual content

ashhearddwrites's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Murder

Moderate: Violence and Pedophilia

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Racism

jlewis's review

emotional inspiring relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0

Life at Longbourn, the home of the Bennett family in Pride and Prejudice, as seen through the eyes and stories of the servants - the housekeeper, butler, 2 housemaids/maids of all work and a recently arrived footman and groom, who is secretive about his past.  All is revealed about this in a lengthy flashback in part 3 of the book, before returning to the starting chronology in book 4. There are some well-drawn characters and some thought-provoking suggestions that consider how both sexual orientation and pregnancy out of wedlock might have been managed. Overall it is a well-written, well-researched and engaging book.  I would agree with the several other reviewers who found the second half of the book less engaging than the first and that the ending was not altogether convincing in terms of either plot or character consistency.   But one of the better P&P spin-offs. 
For those who know Pride and Prejudice, it will surprise no one to be told that Mr Wickham is still a villain. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Racism