Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

9 reviews

minimicropup's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The Energy: Alarming. Devious. Contentious. 

The Scene: 🇺🇸 A modern minimalist home in a gentrified neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

The POVs: We follow a parent living with chronic illness and conflicted feelings about parenthood. We also follow their non-verbal gifted child with big thoughts limited by their childlike understanding of the world.  

 

🐕 Howls: Nitpicky but this kept nagging me - Suzette has a phone with her 24/7 but never attempts to document Hanna’s antics for proof. 

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing and character choice for the multiple perspectives. The conflicted, twisted, heart-wrenching Feels. That ending.  I love when a story points out that having kids means having a total stranger in your life that you are fully responsible for (for almost two decades). 

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🎬 Tale-Telling: The writing is gritty, direct, with touch of surreal. The multiple perspectives worked well here since it built a bit of sympathy for each character at the start and adds suspense over whether there’s hope for this family.  

 

👥 Characters: The characters were a spectrum from relatable to unhinged villainy and back again. I loved the character development centered around the parent-child rivalry and mismatch. I liked the descriptions of the characters - not everyone is ‘beautiful’ or ‘handsome’, they’re refreshingly real. 

 

🤓 Reader Role: Psychic insight getting the lowdown on every thought and fear from both Suzette and Hanna. We’re also a fly on the wall watching each moment unfold and seeing the past and present collide knowing their experiences and perspectives. 

 

🗺️ Ambiance: Nailed the unsettling, claustrophobic atmosphere, and I loved the contrast against the family’s modern, minimalist home that was designed for them and should be their safest space. 

 

🔥 Fuel: The story's engine runs on the battle of wills between mother and daughter with escalating actions and reactions. Every rational (and irrational) move by Suzette and Hanna somehow made sense in the context of their relationship. Usually I find the ‘husband in denial’ trope contrived, but in this story it was used well and was surprisingly deep.

 

📖 Cred Rating: Semi-realistic but don't think too hard about it. Suzette's survivals and Hanna's genius felt eerily plausible (but also kind of theoretical, so not fun if you’re prone to overanalyzing).

 

🚙 Journey: From zero to twenty to a hundred. For the first half I found myself alternating between hating each character and rooting for them. I’d describe this as a slow burn that escalates exponentially until it becomes fully unhinged domestic horror.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Exploration of creepy kid nature vs nurture and personalities
• Psychological horror with a cat-and-mouse parent-child clash 
• What would you do conundrums with ‘how far would you go for your child’ and ‘how far would you go for your spouse’
• Exploring themes and commentary around communication styles, misunderstandings, parenting challenges, regret, resentment, the dark side of family life, manipulation, chronic illness, pregnancy, nature vs nurture, childhood mental illness, destruction, denial, and trauma

 

Content Heads-Up: Medical (Crohn’s and inflammatory bowel, surgery, pregnancy; recall and experience; on and off page). Psycho/sociopathy/personality disorders. Narcissistic parent (recall; descriptive experience off page). Blood. Attempted murder. Fire/fire injury. Institutionalization. Sexual content (descriptive, observed, on page). 

 

Rep: Heterosexual. Cisgender. White and ambiguous Americans and Swedes. Chronic illness. Non-verbal communication. 

 

👀 Format: Library Hardcover

 

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

amaranth_wytch's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Child abuse

tokki_reads's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Cursing, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Blood

kirahaycock21's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.75

This book was a little slow for me… I had to stop about halfway through and read two other books, then come back to it. But it was a really interesting book; it had me questioning the main characters motives and mental stability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Vomit, Blood, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

schnanko's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

I have read books that have made me uncomfortable, grossed out, fascinated...this book was genuinely terrifying. I was on the edge of my seat to an extent I haven't been in forever. It was amazingly written and the plot was absolutely incredible. I just finished it and I want to read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Blood, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Cursing, Excrement, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

tbell0211's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I almost took away a star because I don’t think the title fits the book at all Lmfao but the book is great honestly. It set up for a sequel if Stage ever wants to write one but is great stand alone as well. It’s traumatizing in all the warmest of ways. It didn’t give me nightmares, but it made me feel genuine emotions like fear, pity, sympathy, anger, anguish. I think Hannah is one of the most beautifully written complicated antagonists I’ve encountered in years, maybe since Severus Snape. As a psych major, this book leaves a lot to unpack after it’s finished, and I adore books that make me think. “The child you love to hate” isn’t a phrase I thought I’d ever say out loud, lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

corpseparty's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Characters are all unrealistic. Unnaturally calm reactions to the kid’s antics lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Torture, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

cursivewolf's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

4.5

I liked the dual perspectives, seeing both sides of the situations. Seeing how Hanna rationalized her own behavior. Extremely well-written. Reviews compared it to We Need To Talk About Kevin, and I agree. But it’s good in its own way, it takes that concept in its own direction. The ending fell flat to me, and I do wish the last chapter had been cut. I feel like that would have made for a better ending. But overall I enjoyed it. 

I wanted to beat Alex Jensen with a mallet. Suzette Jensen I am so sorry you endured the shit you did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Cursing, Torture, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

izypup's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, and Self harm