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Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

28 reviews

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This might have honestly been the darkest book I have ever read. It was difficult at times and yet engaging and interesting the entire way through. Very well done. 

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I was wrapped up by this book. I will not read it again. It is hard, cold, and a realistic depiction of the loss, grief and horrors that might come when society falls. The main character is survives and naviagtes what does it mean to survive in a world where human life is dwindling. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

A harrowing dystopian future where a pandemic wipes out women and children. It's tragic and harrowing to read. I couldn't put it down. Not for the faint of heart. The ending is touching, hopeful and poignant 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional informative reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

I read this book quickly. I borrowed it from KU as an audiobook, but found myself reading it when it was inconvenient to keep listening. Elison knows how to create tension and hook a reader. I found it interesting to see how the world rebuilt after such a tragedy and think I would have enjoyed the book even more if more time had been spent on the rebuilding (versus the surviving much of it does focus on). 

I struggled with the book because of the negative perception of what humanity (particularly mankind) would turn into in this apocalyptic perception. I'm not saying it's inaccurate, but I would hope we'd do better. There was a bit of a heavy focus on sex at times, which wasn't particularly for me. Probably one of the more depressing dystopian books I've read but even so, I found it hard to put down. I enjoyed the read but I'm not sure I will pick up the follow ups in the series due to how dark the book is. I do applaud Elison's choice to have this book stand-alone and not ending on a cliffhanger. After I have some time and a palate cleanser read (or two), perhaps I will look into reading some of the others in the series. I'd be open to reading other books by this author, just maybe not ones as dark. 

Would you read the next one in the series? Possibly, more likely if less dark.
Would you read something else by the author? Yes (see above)
Would you re-read this? Probably not, it was a bit too dark for me to truly enjoy it. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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