Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

11 reviews

rebeccai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Suicide, Sexual violence, Child death, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Genocide, and Grief

joyceticeleague's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

very important stories that need to be told, heavy but necessary. the writing is beautiful and easy to read. i do think that because the author had to cover 30+ years it did start to get a little dense to read imo but still and enjoyable read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Racism, Suicide, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child abuse, Colonisation, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Sexual content, Child abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, Addiction, Child death, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Medical content, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Animal death

Minor: Bullying and Death of parent

hilwithonel's review

challenging emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book feels as important of a read as the story itself was compelling. Absolutely devastating atrocities were committed and this book allows us to gather historical context through the lense of complex characters each loveable and heartbreaking. I have so many feelings I cant begin to collect them into real thoughts here. Just...fantastic 5 star read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Addiction, Pedophilia, Child death, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

bedtimesandbooks's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Drug use, Suicide, Self harm, Kidnapping, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Genocide, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, and Pregnancy

bnelson13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A beautifully written, absolutely heartbreaking story. I can't even begin to put into words how Five Little Indians has made me feel while reading it. The absolute horror of the residental schools and what the survivors went through, and their struggles just to heal and try and live a decent life after is just crushing. An amazing read, the stories were captivating. Be prepared to cry.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, Alcoholism, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

thazell's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

This was such a heart-wrenching book about the residential schools and the effects they had on people afterwards. It's about trauma and healing. This made me cry on multiple occasions and definitely left me with a heavy heart; it touches on many dark and sensitive subjects.

The characters felt real, it was like I was reading a non-fiction story about a group of people's lives which made it all that much harder. I cried for these characters who suffered from such a horrible event and I hoped for their healing from their trauma. My favourite from the perspective was definitely Lucy and her story. The only complaint I have for this book is that the story jumped around in a way that made it difficult for me to read and would pull me out of the story, it felt as though the timeline was all over the place. Otherwise, the perspective was cool and I loved seeing how they would interconnect and the different stories would come together.

This story will have a special place in my heart and I will continue to remember this event that has affected my culture and people, it deserves to be remembered and this story did amazing at that.

*Read the TW's before reading this book*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

amberinbookland's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

brenticus's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read this just after Jonny Appleseed, which was probably a mistake. This is a brilliant account of the ways residential schools affected generations of Indigenous peoples, even decades after they'd left the horrors of the schools. But while this was a powerful series of stories, it also lacks some of the rawness I'd felt from Jonny Appleseed. Sometimes it feels a little contrived, a little convenient, which is something I didn't get from my previous read.

But that's only by comparison, and it does nothing to invalidate the truth in these stories. The stories of these five former residential school students are distinct yet interconnected. They all went to the same school but left at different times, sometimes linking up with each other and sometimes not. The vignettes of their lives focus in on aspects where we can see the continued traumas that affect them, and while some can find peace later in life many don't get that chance. We see their struggles in school, their struggles in life after release, the struggles of their families after they're taken and after they return, the struggles of the families they find and create... This is, first and foremost, a story of Indigenous people struggling to deal with the effects of residential schools, regardless of whether they actually went to them.

Other than my comparison of tone to Jonny Appleseed, my only real gripe is that the pacing of this book is very uneven. The timeline lurches around and we don't always see characters starring in their stories often enough to really follow how their life goes. It's common for someone's POV to end on a bit of a cliffhanger and then jump to someone else, somewhere else, possibly sometime else, and it's not always a clean jump back into their story. 

Still, if you haven't read a book like this, or at least heard stories from people who experienced the residential school system, you should absolutely read this. It's a powerful, emotional account of just how the Canadian government's policies, along with the Church's methodologies, caused misery for so many people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Racism and Cursing

Minor: Gore, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Vomit

soobooksalot's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

"They call us survivors."
 "Yeah."
 "I don't think I survived. Do you?" 

Given the continuing discoveries of the horrors of the Residential School system in our country, this book was an important start to educating myself. 
 Five Little Indians by Michelle Good was chosen for the June @readcanlit group read. The author is from Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and while the book is technically fiction, it draws upon experiences of actual survivors. 
 Good's straightforward writing style does not betray the trauma within; the story told through five Indigenous Canadian youth recently released from "Indian School".
 Through the characters of Howie, Kenny, Maisie, Lucy and Clara, we are given just a glimpse of what they endured, how they survived, how they tried to live beyond their experiences. They are flawed, real, and their stories are heartbreaking. 
 I absolutely recommend this book and look forward to the Read CanLit discussion. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Self harm