Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

52 reviews

hurlyburlywitch's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was dark, and made my insides roil. I found the protagonist compelling, though some of her choices didnt particularly resonate with me. 
Several plot points hit me like a gut punch, but in the end the plot felt rushed, like they'd run out of book to struggle in, rather than running out of struggle. 
One thing that was missing for me was the acknowledgement of trans people, and how they were impacted by a virus that was more deadly for women. In fact, they might have held some clue- was the virus more deadly based on about organs, or hormones, or purely capacity for pregnancy? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark relaxing

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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

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

Minor: Biphobia, Abortion, Alcohol

katrinarose's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Extremely bleak and tough read but I could not put it down. I loved the character of the unnamed midwife and the how well the author also developed even minor characters as they appeared. I also like the alternating style of her journal and omnipresent narrative. I was taken aback at first when we learned about characters and events that the midwife did not know about but it was satisfying (although sad). I like that the author didn’t shy away from the brutal realities of this post-apocalyptic world, and didn’t sugarcoat her view of human nature, as depressing as it was. This book is definitely not for everyone (between the triggering content, narrative style, and somewhat bare plot) but I really liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Abortion

thechroniclesofnadia's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide

polo's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

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Very entertaining. I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but it had an interesting main character and I enjoyed the historical perspective, along with the way many stories criss-crossed into one another. 
PLEASE read the content warnings on this one before you start. Not kidding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Torture

hngisreading's review

4.0

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy

kodafaith's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional sad tense medium-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: Yes

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This is a hard book to rate in all honesty. The story flows well and is interesting enough, there are some strange writing choices but I think it works out.
It's not the most amazing, exciting or captivating apocalyptic read and I'm not in any rush to continue reading but I do plan on it eventually.
Might come back tomorrow and revise this review after sitting on it for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Suicide

This book revolves around an apocalypse situation that deals heavily with female and child mortality. Knowing that there are at least 10x the amount of men left than women will let you have an idea of some of the things you will see in this book. However it's not very graphic or gratuitous at all.

kat1105's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

larbster90's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Incredible book, very compelling couldn't stop reading it. Definitely increased my anxiety, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt

katiedalton's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It started out a little rocky regarding pacing. But once it got going it was really good. Very dark and while there was not a lot of plot or character development I still really enjoyed the story and how it developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical trauma, Pregnancy

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence

Minor: Suicide