Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

56 reviews

sevenletters's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Infertility, Murder, Medical content, Trafficking, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Violence, and Slavery

agentcopykat's review

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Trafficking, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Blood, Confinement, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

allishortell's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

demonicwitch12's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Mainly sticking to this series as the idea of the book has me hooked and it's good back ground while bathing dogs at work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Gun violence, Torture, Vomit, Incest, Murder, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Abortion, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence

jessikalange's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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? No

5.0

I was hesitant to read this book because I don't usually like really sad books. Even though this book is very sad, there is hope in it. I can't really explain it. If you like dystopian books, wait until you need a good cry and then read this book. Also, make sure you read the trigger warnings... There are a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Death, Infertility, Pedophilia, Self harm, Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Abortion, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

waitforhightide's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective

• 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

3.5

This book felt like a cross between Stephen King's The Stand and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. However, considering those are two of my favorite books, I thought I would like this one more than I did.

Pros:
- references to queerness and transness
- consideration of transness in a gender-centered apocalypse
- polyamory normalization
- the universe itself is quite compelling

Cons:
- the protagonist felt predictable to me throughout the book
- the ending felt rushed somehow?
- at times the references to transness seemed so surface-level they were almost just ornamental; like the author maybe knew some people were wondering how queerness would work in this world and tossed in some crumbs to make us nod and not look too deeply?

That said, I'm interested ENOUGH to take the other two of the trilogy out from the library whenever they get to me and see if anything is expanded on; if so, I will consider coming back and revising the review with the whole series in mind

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Rape, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Death

kailajay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not an easy read. There are significant spoilers in this review due to the nature of the book and a serious need for content warnings.

I first read this book a couple of years ago and when browsing my Kindle notebook noticed a highlighted quote from the 3rd book in the Road to Nowhere series and decided to reread the series.

The premise is a virus that sweeps (at least) America that kills 98% of men and 99%+ of women, particularly during childbirth. The US becomes a degenerative hellscape, where the straight men of the world battle for the few women left alive, and generally do horrible things to them.

The main character is assaulted within a handful of pages. There are in depth descriptions of FGM, sexual assault, miscarriage, stillbirth, child death, death during childbirth, child sexual abuse, and general violence against women. 

But it's still a deeply interesting book that draws you in. Written in a mix of direct storytelling and frantic journal entries, the 'Unnamed Midwife' is a complex and intriguing character who will do (nearly) anything to survive. We're introduced to concepts expanded on in the next books, the idea of these journals being copied over and over again to preserve both the story and the medical information, the 'wooden belly' that Ina wears, the settlement of Nowhere. 

The main character, the 'Unnamed Midwife'- she gives a different name to everyone she meets, and is an experienced midwife- goes through a long and complex journey to find her way to Nowhere, an ex military base. I don't know much about American geography but the people she meets, and the stories that she tells through them, are all incredibly gripping and while they don't always move the story onwards, they move the character onwards and build the new world up (or tear it down just that little bit more).

It's really hard to recommend this book because of how deeply dark the content is. I enjoyed this book in a very complex, rough way, but whether you want to read this needs to be a personal choice, based on whether you can process the content in a safe way. I'd advise taking breaks when you need to, even in a reasonably short book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Medical trauma, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

craftyanty's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a thought-provoking story with excellent audiobook narration. Reading it post Covid-19 pandemic is probably a very different experience than reading it when it was first published. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Death, Sexism, Child death, Abortion, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Trafficking

firefly_reading's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Miscarriage and Rape

perfectcupoftea's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Slavery, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Homophobia, Alcohol, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Medical content, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Rape, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Infertility, Drug use, and Death