Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - No estás en la lista

Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

No estás en la lista by Alison Espach

835 reviews

emmareedspages's review against another edition

3.5

sad slow-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

Content Warnings

sarah_noble's review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was nothing at all what I was expecting. I was so close to dnf-ing it, but I’m glad so many people told me to power through. The beginning was utterly depressing…once I hit about a hundred pages, I found myself really enjoying it. In the end, I found it to be a really beautiful reflection on learning about yourself and finding ways to embrace who you are.

Content Warnings

amyisonline's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

brittbone's review against another edition

4.75

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

beachybookstack's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

This book was not what I expected it to be at all. I went in to it thinking it'd be a light pick, but it ended up covering a whole lot of the modern woman's experience finding her own identity. Marriage, fertility, career struggle, divorce, dealing with expectations. Phoebe's nothing-left-to-lose honesty leads her to real connections and sort of waking herself from her depression/fugue. Of course she discovers that she's not the only one going through the motions or having a hard time with the state of their life. Grief is woven through the novel in a few characters. Lila's grief over her father's death, Gary's widowing, and Lila's mother's loss of youth on top of her experience as a widow. Even Phoebe's childhood loss of her mother ends up connecting her to Juice as they both come to terms with how to be without a mother.

This all makes it sound very sad but I laughed more with this book than others I've read recently. The banter between Gary, Jim, and Phoebe is decent. Some of Phoebe's observations about "the wedding people" or the nature of being a bride is hilarious for anyone who's planned a wedding. Her reflections on her identity and marriage were often a release valve of her frustration but funny in a way, for those who have been married people. The expectations of it all being absurd. I wouldn't recommend this to someone about to get married, but I think it's somewhat cathartic for any woman who has lived in a marriage and questioned herself or been divorced.

Content Warnings

toberead_eventually's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

cristinakaplan's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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

I rarely give out a perfect score but this book felt the closest. It captured all of the adjectives we use to describe books that usually end up being something else, but this book really is realistic, magical, funny, heartbreaking, and exciting.

Content Warnings