Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

48 reviews

thegr1mreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Animal cruelty, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Animal death

jeannekmele's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

cws: rape, child death, slavery, war, grief/trauma, genocide mention, spoilers

An exceptional collection of nearly universal tragedy across its heroines, pyrrhic victories are the norm for women whose darkest moments shine with vibrant human spirit on the pages of A THOUSAND SHIPS.

So often left footnotes--wives, mothers, sisters, sluts and daughters written to live, die, and love for the storied men of old--any background knowledge of the classical canon will lend an unerring hand to the conclusions we know these women will come to. Yet you cannot help but root for their success, or their peace if no such thing exist; despite the ends long since written for them, their human resilience and fragility and the womanly grit behind it all almost feels as if history could rewrite itself this time.
It doesn't, of course, but this in of itself is the devoted intersection of care and craft.

Though ATS is tragedy from the first page to last, the deluge of misery and loss roils and settles with the comfortable shape of a story until you're left with a sense of resolution that is not gratifying, but it is real. And that is the way of tragedy, trauma, and war: these things cannot be reversed, nor smoothed over, nor sated.

Andromache's family, first husband and son are dead; but she has another husband, another son, and her freedom; perhaps that must be enough. Penelope loses twenty years of her life, marriage, queenship and motherhood waiting for a husband who never comes home to her. But there is a like man in their bed, and his name is Odysseus, and perhaps that will have to be enough.

What of Eris, the instigator? What of Helen, the adulteress, the end of a kingdom? It is very easy, in a song about war, to glorify and vilify to the whims of one's own biases, or heroes, or chosen themes. I don't believe you will find such binary in this book.

A mother kills children to avenge her own. Slave-owners and rapists (we'll save the discussion on rape, duious consent, and power in the classical canon for another time) show gentleness and provision to their victims, even when regarded as property. The selfish goddesses who set a decade of devastation and a death toll unnumbered are, themselves, steered from the shadows by intentions as selfless and pragmatic as they are genocidal.

I will quote Natalie Haynes' afterword: 'Survivors, victims, perpetrators: these roles are not always separate. People can be wounded and wounding at the same time, or at different times in the same life.'

It would be erroneous to go into A THOUSAND SHIPS expecting anything less than complex women with rich inner lives under extraneous circumstances. In the man-made disaster that is war, it becomes impractical and impossible to keep an orderly measure of right and wrong. The human condition warps into something immeasurable under such extreme duress. Though by no means a soothing read, I nonetheless devoured ATS as I haven't done with a book in a long time.

I will close with this: Grief is a long-lived creature with many faces that may come in any amount or combination at any time, in three days or five years, or decades hence. Grief is angry, and loud, and dead-eyed; it is wasting away and endless tears and twists in our chests that by right of anatomy shouldn't twist there; it is jealousy and accusation and cruelty and violence and submission and insanity.
Grief is ugly, and so often in contemporary western culture it is unsightly and to be repressed. In women, grief is mockingly anticipated, oppressively levied, and mercilessly culled. A THOUSAND SHIPS is an excellent read across the board, but for those who are processing grief and trauma, who may be unsure how to (especially women), it is a cathartic and humanizing portrait of the externally-inflicted and yet worst, most unacceptable parts of ourselves that are too big for our bodies, and too loud for the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Murder, War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Incest, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcohol, and Confinement

evieisilliterate's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, and Slavery

Minor: Rape

The aftermath of a violent war and its impacts on the remaining women.

marisa_n's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

barb_christensen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I just wish there was a happy ending, but alas that was not as it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Child death, Grief, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

rd77's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

A very interesting read. The author was able to make you sympathize for each woman very quickly, and it was interesting to think about the impact of the war on women, since it’s not talked about nearly enough. The only thing I didn’t like was Penelope’s chapters- for anyone who has read The Odyssey, it’s a tired retelling of it, with little actual insight to Penelope’s side of the story until her last 2 chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, War, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death, Slavery, and Sexual violence

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. I absolutely adore greek retellings and this women based greek retelling was beautiful. It reads in chronological order with some chapters involving the writing process of the book from a perspective of a man and letters from Penelope. It was beautifully written and so enlightening. I would 100% recommend anyone to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Cursing, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, War, Abandonment, Abortion, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Rape, and Self harm

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark inspiring medium-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? No

I love a retelling. I also love an audiobook read by its author. The passion was absolutely there. I felt that the characters were real, they were not always likeable which made them that much more believable. I don't think this is going to be my favorite retelling ever - don't get me wrong, it's beautifully written and really infuses the tragedy of the women's narratives. But I think this would be a better read for someone more familiar with the Greek classics. I only have a passing familiarity, and the women's stories were told as snippets so this almost felt like a collection of short stories, so I often felt I was missing something and ended up Googling details about the original legends which kind of took me out of the beauty of the audio. Anyway, I'm glad to see another addition to the recent number of classics retellings from the perspective of women.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, and Slavery

marianneiriss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Rape, War, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Child death, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Xenophobia, War, Torture, Slavery, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Incest, Abandonment, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

gertrudethemoonstone's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Murder, Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts