Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

52 reviews

leksikality's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective 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: Complicated

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Of the plague-decimates-population-via-infertility genre, this one does a pretty good job. It's no wonder it's won an award, and ought to win more.

The main character isn't necessarily likeable but I like her - and the way her attitudes/behaviour changes as the book progresses feels more natural than a lot of post-apocalyptic narratives.

I have read a lot of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction from a broad span of time (it's my academic research niche so I'm pretty well exposed to it), this is one of the ones I got excited about reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Violence, Trafficking

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide

batcaves's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

horizonous's review

2.25

challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, Trafficking, Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Medical trauma

◦ Medical trauma = Genital mutilation

shontellereads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 Really enjoyed this, so bleak and depressing but so so so good. Check the TWs!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment

readmeem's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Outing

bex_knighthunter's review against another edition

4.5

dark 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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Wow - bleak, atmospheric, incredibly dark but very readable and with a refreshingly queer perspective on the apocalypse. I love survival narratives, so really enjoyed all the minutiae about finding shelter, food etc. (and with birth control which doesn't feature enough in sci-fi!) but also enjoyed the bigger ideas around: what cultures and communities would develop and survive (not all good), female empowerment & sexual autonomy. This generally focussed on the small picture (which felt realistic given the rate of societal collapse meant that much would remain a mystery), but there were some story sections that explored wider narratives which I appreciated. I enjoyed the framing story, which also provided some hope from the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Slavery

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide

parchmentpages92's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Suicide

sistermagpie's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense fast-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Trafficking

accovino's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

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This was A LOT to read during a pandemic. The idea that no one is coming to save you, we save each other or we kill each other, is so hard to read. The work of building society over again, of trusting when there is no reason to trust, of working for a future you'll never see even if you succeed… Yeah I'm having a lot of feelings about it right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Abortion

shannonsacoman's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Suicide, Trafficking