Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

23 reviews

kcmg710's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

The best word I can think of to describe this book is magical, it’s literally on the cover!

I’ve fallen in love with the characters and can’t imagine continuing life without them. I’m actually grieving finishing this book. 

The writing was so beautiful. I loved every minute of this book. 

I’ll admit it was abit tricky keeping up with everybody’s different stories because of the multiple POVS? (I think that’s the right term) however these are my favourite type of books, I love piecing it all together. It kinda reminds me of the starless sea (which I also loved) but if you found yourself not enjoying them maybe this book isn’t for you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, Child death, Physical abuse, Animal death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Sexism

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Murder, Suicide, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

sofipitch's review

mysterious slow-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

3.75

This book was pretty slow to start but I did get invested after a while but the ending to me was lacking. I feel like there was a weird emphasis on having biological children and it's importance and I didn't like that, especially

as a female character who didn't want to have kids for very good reasons has her mind changed bc the man she fell in love with does. Just 😑. Like I really liked the character of Armstrong and I was literally in TEARS when he was describing his childhood and his desire to be a great father to his adopted son, only for the story to say "but that didn't matter, being evil was in the son's genes" uh what, are you kidding me?

Also the river was used as a recurrent theme and symbol throughout but it could be pretty heavy handed at times. Otherwise I liked the prose

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, and Racism

yaizacanopoli's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexism, Animal death, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

peytonktracy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is about story telling and rivers. And it truly does feel like you are being told a story, from the minute you start, it feels like you just curl up to listen. And just like when you are being told a story, sometimes it meanders like a river does and you might wonder where it’s headed or why it curves like this, but you always find where it’s going. And the ending is so immensely satisfying in every way. I loved the characters and how well developed they all were, I loved exploring their reactions to several key plot elements over time, and seeing how their stories connected and blended and diverged and moved. This was absolutely masterful and I loved it to pieces.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Bullying

This book centers around multiple parents and their relationships to children and the losses or changes in those relationships - it is truly what this hinged upon. Several sets of parents lose a children in several of the narratives, so that’s my big warning. Everything else is in passing in the narratives and not at the focus and very rarely described in great detail.

izzybell's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

booksandmo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Stalking

jenn_bookstitcher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

lizzie24601's review

adventurous mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

sirissacgluten's review

emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Stalking, Medical content, Racism, Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs and Fire/Fire injury