Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Expectation

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Expectation by Anna Hope

12 reviews

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

This book formed a beautiful portrait of three women throughout various stages of their lives. We follow them through love, lust and loss, while they worry about relationships and children and the state of the world. It is at the same time deeply relatable, as unbelievably foreign to me as a 23 year-old. The things they complain about while being able to afford a house of their own and impromptu trips to Greece is insane to me, but at the same time they discuss feminism and climate change with a sense of urgency that I feel just as much.

Aside from the themes, I was also incredibly moved by the writing in this novel - its poetic nature, and the emotion with which the most mundane situations are put to paper. It felt deeply personal, these little sneak peeks into these women's lives. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is willing to listen.

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ceedy's review

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bella_cavicchi's review

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emotional reflective medium-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

3.5

On paper, EXPECTATION has all the elements of a true Bella favorite: the focus on female friendships and coming-of-age (or simply: whatever it means to be an adult and a woman), a "slice-of-life" literary plot, poetic and captivating writing, etc. And I can't lie, I did really enjoy the time I spent with Hannah, Cate, and Lissa, the three main characters at the center, and I praise Hope for not being afraid of depicting drifting friendships as a consequence of nothing more than time.

And yet! I am frustrated that we live in a world where women are defined by their proximity (or lack thereof) to motherhood, and I'm saddened that EXPECTATION, however well-written it is, reinforces the idea that I exist to reproduce. True or not as that may be, I was and remain hungry for more nuance.

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idahol7221's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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schorlett's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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contemporarymeepsie's review

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challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I struggled to like this book. All three of the main characters have flaws which is the point I guess but their flaws are irritating. Hannah is self-righteous, Lissa has tunnel vision, Cate is careless and selfish. All these are perfectly acceptable flaws but I don't feel like the reasons they state are very relatable or delved in to particularly well. They all feel like quite flat characters. I will give the author credit that although I didn't find two of her characters relatable I was hooked by one of the stories which meant that I wanted to keep reading. Nothing much happened but the pacing was okay.

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