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luminous's review against another edition
4.0
Pleasantly surprised. Audiobook version, so the written tics like "blah = blah" were not very jarring. Being read aloud, it came across as her telling her story over a campfire in a very brusque way. The narrator was excellent.
The long section with Mormons was interesting.
Ellison writes annoying and unlikeable characters unflinchingly while keeping them human. I liked that.
I may be biased because I love end of the world stories. I mean, I rated this the same as Assassin's Quest, even though technically, and emotionally and for sheer scope and depth, it is by far the better book. Oh well! Different kinds of like, I guess. This book's an amazing meal; Assassin's Quest is a year of amazing meals. Both amazing.
The long section with Mormons was interesting.
Ellison writes annoying and unlikeable characters unflinchingly while keeping them human. I liked that.
I may be biased because I love end of the world stories. I mean, I rated this the same as Assassin's Quest, even though technically, and emotionally and for sheer scope and depth, it is by far the better book. Oh well! Different kinds of like, I guess. This book's an amazing meal; Assassin's Quest is a year of amazing meals. Both amazing.
phildrysdale's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
sevenletters's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Infertility, Murder, Medical content, Trafficking, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Violence, and Slavery
midwifereading's review against another edition
5.0
This book has left me shaken. I don't think I have ever read anything so raw and powerful and painful. If it weren't for the tiny note of hope at the end, I would have hated it. It's devastating.
It hurt my heart to read, because it's so much closer to what the reality would be if such a situation ever came to pass. There is no hero. Just a lone midwife surviving, and somehow finding ways to help others too. It's a long trudge through hostile territory.
The author also takes the time to tell what happens to some of the characters once they part company with the Unnamed Midwife, and she does it well. I haven't seen a book give such powerful glimpses into other corners of the world like this, and it draws the story into a complete circle in a way I rarely see done. Brilliant writing.
I couldn't put it down, and finished it in less than 8 hours. That said, this book is NOT for sensitive souls. It really should have trigger warnings for sexual violence (including against children), pregnancy and infant loss, abuse, and other difficult topics.
Normally, I avoid this kind of content, but it felt like learning the truth about the horror of the Holocaust. We need these stories to teach us how to avoid such horrors. It's not violent for the sake of violence. It's a story that really couldn't be told in gentler tones.
To be clear, the book gives enough information to help the reader understand what's happening, but it's not erotic in any way -- it's almost clinical. And it's extremely difficult reading.
Worth it, to me. But consider it carefully before you pick it up if you know it may trigger your pain.
It hurt my heart to read, because it's so much closer to what the reality would be if such a situation ever came to pass. There is no hero. Just a lone midwife surviving, and somehow finding ways to help others too. It's a long trudge through hostile territory.
The author also takes the time to tell what happens to some of the characters once they part company with the Unnamed Midwife, and she does it well. I haven't seen a book give such powerful glimpses into other corners of the world like this, and it draws the story into a complete circle in a way I rarely see done. Brilliant writing.
I couldn't put it down, and finished it in less than 8 hours. That said, this book is NOT for sensitive souls. It really should have trigger warnings for sexual violence (including against children), pregnancy and infant loss, abuse, and other difficult topics.
Normally, I avoid this kind of content, but it felt like learning the truth about the horror of the Holocaust. We need these stories to teach us how to avoid such horrors. It's not violent for the sake of violence. It's a story that really couldn't be told in gentler tones.
To be clear, the book gives enough information to help the reader understand what's happening, but it's not erotic in any way -- it's almost clinical. And it's extremely difficult reading.
Worth it, to me. But consider it carefully before you pick it up if you know it may trigger your pain.
veganaioli's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
ecandrews0's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sarahb_513's review against another edition
4.25
I really enjoyed this book! Narrator does a great job with all the different characters. The premise is easy to image given the history of the past few years. Told through a female lens, I loved every moment of it (minus the repetition of ‘equals’). Def a great listen!
aruarian_melody's review against another edition
Couldn't get into it. I think it's jus too bleak for my current mood.
jessdone's review
4.0
I never wrote a review for "The Book of the Unnamed Midwife" because after completing the book I was worn out and conflicted. I'm back a year later after reading the sequel to attempt justice to my thoughts on this work.
First, I recommend the read. There are many concepts to explore that are worth a read. There are several stories and all of them engage. Characters, tension, and plot all work in this book. The style adds to the overall story.
I'm not sure I buy how men are portrayed in these novels and the Mormon community was done a severe disservice with their extended portrayal that discounts many elements of their faith and family bonds. I took exception to a large part of the book because this part was offensive and cliche in all the worst ways. The Book of Etta transforms some of these elements in a way that makes the second book better and highlights how offensive this part is in the first book.
There were a few coincidences that were too much for me. I won't go into detail because it causes spoilers, but I understood that some of them created tragic irony, which I may have felt if I'd liked one of characters involved. As it is, most male characters are so riddled with weakness and lacking will, it's hard to identify with them, a weakness in the book itself as it makes men less human in ways I didn't appreciate.
Despite all else, I identified with the main character and her struggles to be independent and free. How she clings to her past even as she tries to accept her new reality. How she deals with constant abandonment and betrayal but keeps going. She has an indomitable spirit, and I was rooting for her. I understood how she became a lesser God to the community she settled into. It was interesting to see how her life was interpreted a few hundred years later.
First, I recommend the read. There are many concepts to explore that are worth a read. There are several stories and all of them engage. Characters, tension, and plot all work in this book. The style adds to the overall story.
I'm not sure I buy how men are portrayed in these novels and the Mormon community was done a severe disservice with their extended portrayal that discounts many elements of their faith and family bonds. I took exception to a large part of the book because this part was offensive and cliche in all the worst ways. The Book of Etta transforms some of these elements in a way that makes the second book better and highlights how offensive this part is in the first book.
There were a few coincidences that were too much for me. I won't go into detail because it causes spoilers, but I understood that some of them created tragic irony, which I may have felt if I'd liked one of characters involved. As it is, most male characters are so riddled with weakness and lacking will, it's hard to identify with them, a weakness in the book itself as it makes men less human in ways I didn't appreciate.
Despite all else, I identified with the main character and her struggles to be independent and free. How she clings to her past even as she tries to accept her new reality. How she deals with constant abandonment and betrayal but keeps going. She has an indomitable spirit, and I was rooting for her. I understood how she became a lesser God to the community she settled into. It was interesting to see how her life was interpreted a few hundred years later.
jessdone's review against another edition
4.0
I love post apocalypse dystopian future books, and "The Book of the Unnamed Midwife" is no exception. I feel there's very little I could talk about in the review without spoiling the book, and this is a book that benefits greatly from the sense that the reader doesn't know what's going to happen next.
The writing itself is solid. It is plain, direct, and straight. All things that one expects in a world where society has crumbled. Long prose and flower description just doesn't belong in this world.
One "issue" I had with the book was that I didn't necessarily buy the human reaction to a plague that seems to target women and children. Some of the reversion, strikes me as false in this book as it did in "Lord of the Flies". Intentionally reveling in the basest most grotesque aspect of man in a manner that I don't think resonates to modern day American society, even as we'd see it in a collapse of all major systems. Some of the descriptions of people after I found stereotypical and biological reductive in a way that I just don't think would happen. I also felt that sometimes Elison cherry picked elements of a group so that she could paint the worst in them without ever really seeing or understand their strengths and how they would rise above said challenges.
While I found it troubling, I do think it's a great conversation starter on how men perceive women and treat them both in modern society and in more extreme environments. And my experience/perceptions aren't the end all be all of the world.
I liked that the catalyst for the world going to shit was beyond human control. Dystopia comes along because humans suck, so we expect the worst in them. In this care the end came from a disease, which at least allowed for us to see how humanity "at it's best" would react to the world's destruction.
I also enjoyed how unlike so much in the genre Elison isn't offering a "warning" or a "solution". While I often revel those elements of post apocalyptic settings ("1984" is an all time favorite in part because of it's messaging with "The Handmaiden's Tale" a close second), they can be tiresome, particularly with the rash of YA dystopias flooding the market. "The Book of the Unnamed Midwife" was a refreshing break. It gently opens conversation without ever preaching. It has a tense, interesting story without ever bordering into what is "wrong" or "right". In many ways it shows compassion and empathy for the human condition in the multiple ways one may deal with the destruction of one's world.
For my taste, the book actually wraps a little too much up. There are many characters introduced and then leaving the main protagonist, and *spoilers* we learn about the life and death of each of these characters in an aside. My sense of completion appreciated "knowing" what happened, but part of me was disappointed. In these kind of books, I like not knowing what happens to characters who leave the protagonist's group. That lingering worry and sense of not knowing, never knowing hangs large and troubling over both the protagonist and the reader. Also some of the endings are waaaaay waaaaaay too much coincidence for my taste, and it would be a stronger story without all that neat bundling.
Still I really liked the intensity and over all story. Would recommend to most anyone a fan of this genre. It's offers a new and interesting experience without straying too far from the post apocalypse genre.
The writing itself is solid. It is plain, direct, and straight. All things that one expects in a world where society has crumbled. Long prose and flower description just doesn't belong in this world.
One "issue" I had with the book was that I didn't necessarily buy the human reaction to a plague that seems to target women and children. Some of the reversion, strikes me as false in this book as it did in "Lord of the Flies". Intentionally reveling in the basest most grotesque aspect of man in a manner that I don't think resonates to modern day American society, even as we'd see it in a collapse of all major systems. Some of the descriptions of people after I found stereotypical and biological reductive in a way that I just don't think would happen. I also felt that sometimes Elison cherry picked elements of a group so that she could paint the worst in them without ever really seeing or understand their strengths and how they would rise above said challenges.
While I found it troubling, I do think it's a great conversation starter on how men perceive women and treat them both in modern society and in more extreme environments. And my experience/perceptions aren't the end all be all of the world.
I liked that the catalyst for the world going to shit was beyond human control. Dystopia comes along because humans suck, so we expect the worst in them. In this care the end came from a disease, which at least allowed for us to see how humanity "at it's best" would react to the world's destruction.
I also enjoyed how unlike so much in the genre Elison isn't offering a "warning" or a "solution". While I often revel those elements of post apocalyptic settings ("1984" is an all time favorite in part because of it's messaging with "The Handmaiden's Tale" a close second), they can be tiresome, particularly with the rash of YA dystopias flooding the market. "The Book of the Unnamed Midwife" was a refreshing break. It gently opens conversation without ever preaching. It has a tense, interesting story without ever bordering into what is "wrong" or "right". In many ways it shows compassion and empathy for the human condition in the multiple ways one may deal with the destruction of one's world.
For my taste, the book actually wraps a little too much up. There are many characters introduced and then leaving the main protagonist, and *spoilers* we learn about the life and death of each of these characters in an aside. My sense of completion appreciated "knowing" what happened, but part of me was disappointed. In these kind of books, I like not knowing what happens to characters who leave the protagonist's group. That lingering worry and sense of not knowing, never knowing hangs large and troubling over both the protagonist and the reader. Also some of the endings are waaaaay waaaaaay too much coincidence for my taste, and it would be a stronger story without all that neat bundling.
Still I really liked the intensity and over all story. Would recommend to most anyone a fan of this genre. It's offers a new and interesting experience without straying too far from the post apocalypse genre.