Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Cactus by Sarah Haywood

3 reviews

rosiebethreads's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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seawarrior's review

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had a difficult time getting through this book. Susan is a very judgmental and downright mean person, and I struggled to tolerate her perspective. I understood how it developed, especially as the book went on, but that did little to make me empathize with her ableist, disparaging and overcritical thought process more. I also found it hard to accept that most of the leading characters in this book are in their forties, since they behaved more like college students, Susan included. I wasn't really invested in the contents of the story, but kept telling myself that eventually Susan would "bloom" and start seeing the world in a new way, as promised. Her growth wasn't as rewarding as I'd hoped however, and I finished the book feeling like I'd wasted my time. I wouldn't recommend this book to others mostly because of my dislike for Susan. It was well written in regards to the story and the internal and external dialogue however, so other readers may still enjoy it. I'm just not one of them.

As a final related note, due to a disability recommendation list I was going through, I was led to believe that Susan was deliberately written as autistic, and that she would discover this eventually. This never happened however, so either the book's inclusion on that list was in error, or Susan's autism was confirmed by the author outside it. I just wanted to note that here in the event that another person starts reading this book in mistake, as I did.

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jularcido's review

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funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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