Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

55 reviews

jmstorytime's review against another edition

5.0

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

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

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

tr4shc4n's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

4.75

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

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

abbacirc's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark sad 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Infidelity, Abortion

kelishiaradhalal's review against another edition

3.5

dark hopeful fast-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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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy

scoobygirl93's review against another edition

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I was looking forward to reading this and I wanted to love it. It's just spending so much time in the time period of immediately post event, and I'm bored, I'm more interested in the this is how the world is now time period.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

v_nerdbooks's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy

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