Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - The Whispers

Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

236 reviews

courtknee_bee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars, rounded up

This is one of those "every marriage is awful in it's own way" kind of books. (Cannot relate.) I've labeled it as a mystery-thriller, but it's really more of a domestic drama with a little dash of whodunit to keep things interesting. I also read The Push by Ashley Audrain, and The Whispers feels like its spiritual successor. Audrain gives her characters such depth and nuance, even if they're "bad" people.

Just like The Push, this one also ends with a big "OMG" last sentence. I find this kind of ending lazy, but it's fun!

Extreme trigger warnings for fertility issues, pregnancy loss, etc.

Content Warnings

adelinebal4's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

First thing is definitely check content warnings for this book - the

infertility and miscarriage

content could be wildly triggering for some readers.

I really enjoyed this; it made me feel a lot of very strong emotions and the commentary on motherhood really had me thinking. The ending is pretty bleak in some ways, but in a way that feels artfully done. I only wish

we could have gotten a Chloe POV - I think it could have been really interesting to dive deeper into the terrifying thought of Blair having chosen to dedicate her whole life to a child who might not be turning out to be a very good person. I get that it was already kind of long, and Ashley kind of already looked into that in The Push… but I just feel like if we were going to intoduce the plot line of a seemingly nice little girl suddenly telling her bestie to kill himself, we need to really commit to it. Why did she say it?? Where did that moment between Xavier and Chloe come from?? I needed more there, and it was only how much I loved the very ending that keeps me from lowering my rating over it.

I love how the concept of intuition is woven through the book, as well as the exploration of the four mothers’ experiences, all taking place in such isolated worlds but in such close physical proximity - a portrait of the way lack of community and the oppressive values of individualistic culture wreak havoc on the domestic space.

I know I’m going to think about this book for a long time - Ashley’s first book left me feeling that way too.
I think I came to a better understanding of my own mother through some of these characters.

I’m also OBSESSED with the epilogue - I love the catharsis of realizing Xavier is going to get revenge and isn’t going to let Whitney get away with her behavior. I love a book that explores a bad mom character in a nuanced way instead of the of the classic woman-hating that usually comes with talking about moms who aren’t good at their jobs.

Content Warnings

marissanbullis's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

shesalwaysreading's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

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

3.0

3 stars. I was not blown out of the water by The Push, but was very excited to read this one based on the summary. I was very enthralled in this one until the end. I did not understand

why Whitney was pregnant at the end? Idk, maybe I missed something important.

That said, the different POV was not hard to follow, so I enjoyed that. I feel like this was more of a mystery rather than thriller. Big trigger warning for miscarriage.

Content Warnings