Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

30 reviews

sarryluv99's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and War

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.5

The writing in the book was so beautiful. The author has a real talent for vividly describing food, locations, and people in a way that just brought the story to life. I know basically nothing about Iranian culture and history so it was really educational and I looked up several things that were mentioned. I didn’t love the ending, Bahar’s chapter in particular didn’t elevate anything for me and I wish that would have been done differently. Besides that the story exceeded my expectations. It didn’t hide any of the faults that come with being a real person and what that looks like when having a long term friendship. It was an honest look into these women’s lives, both the ups and downs. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and War

okiecozyreader's review

adventurous hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I am so grateful to Marjan Kamali sharing her family’s culture from Iran with us. Her stories are so helpful to see these loving Iranian families and get to experience their culture, language and food, too! (I loved how many words and phrases we got to see translated. I feel like so many books seem to talk in American language and I liked how this one gave me more insight into real conversation).

THE LION WOMEN OF YEHRAN splits between two points of view. We meet the main character Ellie (Elaheh) in 1950 as a young girl, as she and her mother have their lives downgraded and move into a small apartment by her uncle. She makes a good friend Homa, who we get to hear from occasionally. Ellie’s mother doesn’t want her to associate with people of a lower class like Homa, but their friendship is rare and uniquely special to both of them. We see their friendship through several ups and downs (alluded to the very first chapter, which gives us some perspective of what will happen by 1980, the end of the book - which has the most interesting culture observations). 

I really loved their friendship, which overcame so many obstacles, and that it was the main love of the book. 

I got to meet the author in person at Watermark Books in Kansas and she talked about how history books tell you what happened, but fiction books tell you how it made people feel. Her books do this so well; they help us feel and have greater empathy for other people.

I also thought this book has some great men in it! I loved several of the relationships and how loving and supportive the men were (and also in some of the political events for women).

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“You know what we'll both become when we grow up?"
"I do not," I said.
"Shir zan. Lionesses. Us. Can't you just see it, Ellie? Someday, you and me we'll do great things. We'll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen." P38

“But I should have known that some friendships fracture and rupture beyond belief.” P241 (interesting here in relationship to Iran and America / and interpersonal relationships)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

jenpurlteach's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Islamophobia

bhanson24's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

ashleyjean6's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.25

Very good book, but as I anticipated, a difficult read. I loved the writing and character development, the vivid descriptions of food and clothes and setting. It's incredible to read about Iran before the revolutions and to know they're still being controlled by extremists today. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

kaylay1216's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Classism

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Torture

torturedreadersdept's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sarah_reading_party's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely adored the newest book by Marjan Kamali, The Lion Women of Tehran. This book follows the lives of two women, Ellie and Homa, who grow up as little girls in Tehran, Iran. The book shares their lives from childhood to adulthood, and though the girls' relationship is not strong at all times due to truly painful circumstances alongside difficult bits of Iranian history, they are loyal to each other. This book is a beautiful story of friendship, love, family, and survival... and how to cope through tragedy and pain. As children, both girls have to cope with the loss of at least one parent due to political issues, death, or family dynamics and that really unites them. 

I really liked how the book was written - some chapters focused on Ellie, others on Homa, and the time periods changed from the 1950s to the 1980s and into the present day. The girls' story of friendship is sad, but also hopeful - they are estranged for many years and each deal with guilt and shame for their actions/inactions due to those circumstances. This book is hopeful, yet also painful and raw at times. The ending was a little too sweet at times but overall, this was a wonderful book!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, and War

erinkhagen's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury