Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

49 reviews

albon's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Pregnancy, Racism, Animal death, Confinement, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Police brutality

znvisser's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

2.25

Hmm this wasn't for me. For the first third of the book, nothing much happens. And just when I was about to DNF, the story picks up and gets interesting, only for it all to sizzle out again. This book had a compelling premise but unfortunately the main character was by far the most boring bit, her character only formed by motherhood, religion and whining. The other characters were way more interesting, and I understand that this helps create mystery for the MC, but a lot of repetitive time is spent mostly with her and I didn't really care for it. The use of the antagonist felt like reading a children's story, as if this book was somehow supposed to be a family tale. So even though I appreciated bits in the middle part, where this story crackles and comes to life, to me it wasn't worth struggling through the rest of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Outing, Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Alcohol

quillyreads's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Beautiful writing, but not the best plot. It’s very slow paced and muted for about 3/4 of the book, then packs everything in the last few chapters. 

And it crams a LOT in. Too much, perhaps. As the books tries to ambitiously comment on grief, miscarriage, religious mania, tyrannical religious zealots, homophobia, xenophobia… It can’t investigate these themes in the depth they deserve or with the time or character development they require to become a theme, rather than just an embellishment. 

Also, I just couldn’t connect with the characters. There’s little character development. And despite the huge amount of happenings in the final sprint of the book, the ending feels like it’s back to the start. The only difference is

there’s now a baby in the house.

I just couldn’t vibe with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Moderate: Xenophobia and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Islamophobia

sb27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Could be a 5. Really enjoyed it. Got off to a great start, then dipped a bit and the end seemed a bit rushed. But the bulk of the book was just fantastic. So interesting, though can't say it was entirely enjoyable. Women at the mercy of men, then and even now. Would highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal death and Domestic abuse

slinkmalink's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Other than the weird dream I had the night I finished it I really loved this book.

Though I was sad about a lot of things and wished that theyd had happier endings,

even though it was clear from the moment they mentioned the poppy that Ida wasn't going to survive I wanted her and Nethe to escape and live their own lives

, and

I felt that Lisbet really deserved a happier life away from Henne with her own child and possibly also Eren

, by the time I got to the end I was really convinced by it, it felt the most genuine way for the story to end 

in unexpected and grief forged love and finding the little miracles eg. of a child even through a life they wouldn't have chosen

and I think it would've been unsatisfying for them to all have happily ever afters bc that is simply not how the world worked especially for women and queer people and immigrants

I knew a little about the dancing plague (from horrible histories ofc) but not really anything about why people think it happened and how everyone else reacted to it. I thought the chapters about the dancers were beautifully written and worked really well at conveying the context that is thought to have led to the plague in a personal way, especially with regards to what women specifically endured at the time 

Also everything about the bees was beautiful

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, and Death of parent

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

This is a very well written book, but I found it difficult to get through at times. It is 100% not for anyone dealing with infertility and I wish I had known that before reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual violence

signeskov's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

edamamebean's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Every once in awhile a book comes along that makes reading feel like a fever. This was definitely one of those books, once I was reading it I couldn’t stop and the ending brought tears to my eyes. I highly recommend but please check the content warnings before picking this one up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Outing, Grief, Infidelity, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcoholism

hue's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Bitter, tragic, loving. Not a light topic to touch upon at all, but Kiran Millwood Hargrave does it so well. It's an immense joy to read what she's written, especially historical fiction like this and her former glory The Mercies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Miscarriage, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bellwetherbird's review

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Child death, Sexism, Homophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis