Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

37 reviews

ohyeah_karyn's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, War, and Child abuse

adrienneb18's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Violence, War, Murder, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Pregnancy, Incest, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts

marieeveparentroy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Pregnancy, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

pastlifetragedy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, Death of parent, Child death, and War

Minor: Incest, Classism, Animal cruelty, and Rape

madelinequinne's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Since my obsession with Ancient Greece has come back full force, I knew I needed to read this book as soon as I saw it in Waterstones, and it was… fine? I think reading Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati before reading Electra made me not enjoy this so much since the former painter Clytemnestra’s character in such a strong way, with so much depth that then reading the latter’s depiction of her was disappointing. She was written as if she was weak minded and always in her sister’s shadow, and she was rather two dimensional in certain points of the book. 

For a book called Electra, there wasn’t all that much about her until the last third of the book. It was much more focused on Clytemnestra and Cassandra right up until Agamemnon’s murder, so at times I didn’t really feel like I was reading her story at all. 

This book was a fine read, but I can’t say it was my favourite. The writing was very beautiful and descriptive, and I didn’t feel like it was a drag to read or anything, so I’d still recommend this to anyone wanting to read about Ancient Greece, but it’s certainly not at the top of my recommendation list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Infertility, Murder, Sexism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Slavery, and War

Minor: Incest, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Sexual assault

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Gore, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

havefa1th's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

This book is very good but sometimes it just feels very slow and I'm hoping for it to hurry up. Another thing is that I struggled to sympathise with Elektra, the literal namesake for the book. I found the other povs far more interesting

but unfortunately they both die before Elektra

. By the final ten-ish chapters, I just desperately wanted the book to finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, War, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Slavery, Child death, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Classism, Death of parent, Rape, and Self harm

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and War

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Drug use, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

A very emotional and poetic writing style that flows perfectly well with the three main protagonists. The story is filled by rage, grief and atrocities, but also ultimately, about love, honour, admiration and justice. A story in which the women's suffering and courage is highlighted instead of being diminished or hidden. They are complex women with different believes and desires, yet the author makes a fantastic job in their characterization, so you cant help but to understand and feel bad for them even if you disagree with their actions. Helen is both a complex and enigmatic character with agency in the eyes of these women, but reduced to a prize in the eyes of men. With such subtleties, the focus, which is put into the women related to Troy, the narrative vindicates these 'forgotten' characters and criticizes/attempts to create a feminist retelling that is both piercing and engaging.

Especially, what I have enjoyed the most is the portrayal of motherhood and mourning. The chapters that focused on Clytemnestra were by far my favourites. There is so many violence against women in this story (og and retellings) but the tenderness, the compassion she showed for other women's suffering through the novel made it such a compelling read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, War, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, and Rape