Reviews with content warning for Abortion - The Waters

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell

11 reviews

mreads03's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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veeples's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

It took me quite a long time to get into this book. What was there was interesting enough to keep from DNF-ing this book, but the slow pace and the slow cadence of the narrator felt like a bit of a slog. What I did eventually come to appreciate about this book is how it presents us with small time mythologies that create what feels like inescapable fates. A romance that felt fated to coalesce. An old healer who would and could never die. The idea of greatness belonging to one man. Being the chosen and most beloved youngest girl destined to inherit all that she loves. Yet, this book deconstructs all of these in really interesting ways, breaking not only communal mythologies but self-imposed ones. The change is painful for most of those involved, as change usually is, but what comes out is something still tender and worthwhile and precious, as we hope things will be at the other side of change.

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sarah_sunshine9's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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jaydeecepticon's review

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dark sad slow-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

2.25

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embel's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.25

As someone who grew up in Michigan, I loved this book. I think this book is what I wanted WTCS to be. The swamp! The waters! The creatures and plants and medicines there! When we get a few lines from a non-human animal’s perspective it is so beautiful and adds so much. There’s no cheesiness with these natural elements and I love that. I found it to be pretty raw and radical in plot, despite so many people complaining of no plot (I totally disagree, read the last 59% of this in one sitting). Loved the characters for the most part. The few complaints I have are the lack of awareness around race and having a fully white cast and town, and second, the weird emphasis on what it means to be a man vs a woman. I love that the book focuses on this really powerful group of women, but I don’t know that I agree with what it says about gender overall. Lots of stereotypes are reinforced and it’s super comhet.

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morebookspls's review

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

A solid read about a girl growing up with the swamp witch in a small town. Interesting perspectives about family, health, and abortion.

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meg_merr's review

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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fkshg8465's review

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emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I admit I did have a bit of a hard time keeping my attention on the book, but that’s probably more because I read this while recovering from COVID. Even still, the community created within these pages has a lot going on, and Dorothy’s view of the world is precious.

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hollyeabner's review

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challenging emotional reflective 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

3.5

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jejohnston's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

I had the privilege of getting to read an advanced copy of Bonnie Jo Campbell's THE WATERS, which debuts next month. This is a beautiful book that reads like something from the classic literary canon. It follows a family of women in rural Michigan who make the natural environment their home. The matriarch, Hermine "Herself" Zook, is a healer of sorts with three adult daughters, Primrose, Molly, and Rose Thorn. When Rose Thorn is assaulted by the father of one of her boyfriends, she gets pregnant and gives birth to Dorothy "Donkey" Zook. Most of the novel follows 10-year-old Donkey as she lives with her grandmother in "the Waters" and struggles against the mythology and power of nature and the sanitized, violent, masculine society that tries to wedge itself into their lives. It's a feminist book that tries to answer how the feminine and the masculine can coexist and support one another. It's one that definitely stuck with me past the final page.

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