Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

41 reviews

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I thoroughly enjoy a book when it makes me think and pushes me to put it all together. Here we follow the stories of multiple Black women living in the UK, some from birth to their later years. It is told in a very peculiar style, which for me called back the way we remember stories from long ago and/or the way we recall our own memories, with only certain parts standing out in our memory while others are very vague. 

This book is full of really difficult topics, from abuse, abandonment, racism, bigotry, etc., and it is also full of a lot of heart and love between women. I loved the inclusion of trans and lesbian characters since they were the main characters in their respective stories. 

I'd recommend this book if you like multigenerational stories, books where you have to do the work and piece the story together, and if you like diverse books full of conversations surrounding various aspects of feminism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Racism, and Toxic relationship

ynaiita_5896's review

emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Evaristo takes 12 characters whose lives intertwine in some way or another and writes a book that is so unified, continued and connected. This book is so well written and the characters are so realistic that I wondered which part of them was real and which part fiction. The characters are lovable and those who have called them unlovable may have done so because they see themselves in these characters across all the emotions they have depicted.

Informative and reflective. This book has taught me so much about women and how resilient we are; how tragic our lives have been and continue to be but how we continue to rise each time. It is a reminder of how society has tried to define us for centuries, across generations and geographies, and how hard we try and succeed to take charge of the narrative.

What I love most about it is how diverse it is within the diversities. This isn't specific to cultural, but spans across the LGBTQ+ discourse. These conversations are so important and there's a lot of learning that is still needed. There's a lot of cancel culture happening due to lack of knowledge and this book has the pote tial and opportunity to fill the gap.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Miscarriage, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Mental illness

isabellamarg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

Girl, Woman, Other was a beautiful and gritty tapestry of storytelling spanning generations and crossing borders. Each of the characters within this novel is well-written and we get to intimately know each character within the span of a chapter (albeit a long chapter). The connections between characters fleshed out the story and I loved that we hear about different people from others perspectives as the story moves along. This made the world of the novel very rich! We see the reality of human life in which nobody is perfect; humans lie, cheat, and have regrets, nobody is perfect. We fully see the intersection of race, class, gender, and sex as well as the variation in thinking and limitations generationally. 

I think my favorite part of this novel was seeing the characters all come together in the same place in the final chapter creating a full-circle moment for the reader where we see people forgive others and other's misgivings. The epilogue in this novel was also a really sweet treat for the reader with lost connections being found (no spoilers here).

I loved how each section of the novel was broken down into a trio of characters that were somehow related or knew each other. There were a lot of mom and daughter plot lines as well as teachers, siblings, friends, etc. The punctuation and capitalization of the writing honestly did not bother me. I thought it created a poetic flow to the writing that I almost preferred for this type of storytelling. Overall, masterfully written and wonderful book that spans generations of black women and their families. The cohesive exploration of friendship and love while also highlighting injustice in our world made me think deeply about how we carry ourselves through this world. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Rape

Minor: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Addiction

heather667's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Abandonment, Biphobia, Bullying, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Colonisation

haza's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Violence, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Slavery, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Transphobia, and Addiction

laurenreadsagain's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.25

beautiful, explorative, illustrative

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Abortion, Infertility, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Addiction, Rape, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Outing, Slavery, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racism, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Infertility

imaginaryisobel's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

Found the chapter structures a little weird at times. Not sure if this was due to it being an audiobook but it felt like it cut off at awkward points/chapters abruptly ended. Felt most of the stories wrapped up pretty well but there were a couple of stragglers, namely LaTisha and winsome who were kinda missed in the ending. Overall an engaging read and some really interesting stories. The only really weak one for me was Yazz's story but the rest were fab.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Addiction, Racism, Xenophobia, Slavery, and Infertility

Minor: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Deadnaming, Colonisation, Cancer, Antisemitism, and Classism

helfire124's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

I really enjoyed the interconected stories of these british people. I'd love a chart with all the relationahip dynamics

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Violence, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Homophobia, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Racism, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Physical abuse

emily_galloway's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was incredible. I love the authors writing style, read almost like poetry at points. I was hooked and loved how each story had some link to another, intertwining these women in small ways. 

This story is so smart. Incredible. 

I cried a few times throughout and would recommend reading trigger warnings however. It's pretty intense in parts. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Addiction, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Drug use, and Infertility