Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

42 reviews

cham721's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-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: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Slavery

stabilesero's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was an absolutely gut-wrenching story of love, loss, pleasure and pain set in post-apocalyse Earth where women are wiped out and babies cannot be born. 
For me, this hit hard on what it is to be a woman, what hardships it brings already and what can be further brutalised and used to others' advantage when it becomes rare. I also loved the raw description/addition of Dusty's need, want and lust for stimulation, because it added another level to this type of dystopian ficion novel that many other overlook or focus on male pleasure. 
I am thoroughly looking forward to the next two books in this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Kidnapping

lauraxxpaige's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Child death, and Suicide

Moderate: Trafficking and Slavery

ola2109's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Abortion, Sexual violence, Slavery, Miscarriage, Blood, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

lady_bountiful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Murder

smallwallflower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Couldn’t put it down once I started reading. One of those books that stays with you after. Wish I could read it again for the first time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, and Slavery

jmstorytime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I never thought a book would ever top my favorite books of all time. This book though….chefs kiss. I devoured this beautifully written book in 24 hours. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

tr4shc4n's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Murder, Violence, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

adventurous dark relaxing

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

4.75

I listened to this straight and stayed up 2 hours past my bedtime without any idea of how late it was!   I'm generally a fan of post-apocalyptic stories and I really enjoyed this take from this bi/pansexual woman, a reproductive healthcare professional, perspective.  

***Note about CWs: bad things are seen as bad by narrator, and hard topics didn't feel hopeless***

My main content warnings:
Lots of dead bodies, 
Miscarriages/stillborns,
Sexual assault(1 in first person) most are mentions after,
Killing(self defense),
Child abuse(LDS child bride)
Women are traded by men for sex

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Abortion, Biphobia, and Alcohol

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.75

 I heard about this one on NPR and it seemed right up my alley- post-apocalyptic, science fiction with a midwife as the main character. There are no zombies, aliens, or evil creatures just a plague that wipes out most of humanity, especially women. The characters were fantastic and it had a very realistic feel to it- tense, sad, lonely, hopeful, and yet utterly painful. Please note that there is a lot of violence, especially sexual violence, and death. I listened to this one on audiobook and didn’t realize when I started that it is a trilogy (from what I understand each book is about a different person in the same world). It wasn’t the most mature writing (and a few of the author’s quirks annoyed me a little) but as it was written as a journal I could mostly let them go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Infertility, Pregnancy, Torture, and Child death