Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

26 reviews

kaitlynsc's review

Child sexual abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Infertility, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

thewordapothecary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Mostly I’m just confused. Why the hell did I just read an entire book to basically have no closure for the main plot. There’s unnecessary trauma included in the book that totally could’ve been left out. Elle is the unluckiest character, and I know that bad things happen to lots of people… but her life was one bad thing after the other. She’s a bad person. The one good thing that’s ever happened in her life and she acts like she could easily give it up. The only thing saving this book from a one star is the last handful of chapters and even that is a stretch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Cancer, Sexual violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Rape

lsm's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is well written but I just wasn’t a fan. It’s tough subject which I can usually handle, but the author went out of her way to drop revolting, unnecessary details throughout the story. The MC said “That’s disgusting” at least a dozen times m, probably more, and she wasn’t wrong. Every possible bodily fluid was mentioned. Even that might be ignored but a cat licking blood off the floor? Why? Mouse urine? Ok, maybe I’ve read that detail somewhere but mouse afterbirth? Stfu. The gross details became a near constant distraction that I came to resent. I know they were all a choice and I’m sure they represented the decay of youth, innocence, and moral compass but in the end they were all too much. For that reason I can’t recommend this one. I doubt I’ll ever read this author again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Infidelity, Infertility, Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Grief, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

bellarosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Incest, and Infidelity

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness and Cancer

amberelizabeth7's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

On one hand, I devoured this in mostly one sitting, finding the pace and writing style really engaging.
On the other hand, one timeline is utterly horrific, and the other is 24 hours with some decisions made by adults. The pace was great between the two timelines and it was well crafted and told, but I felt the more interesting long term timeline didn’t come to conclusion in the present day timeline and I felt like the good writing and character development had slightly tricked me into not realising the plot of the present day story that feels like the main one didn’t really go anywhere. 

It seems intended that finding out that Conrad didn’t just rape Elle excuses Elle and Jonas of their complicity in Conrad’s death, and relieves them of their guilt to be together. I don’t particularly buy that, and therefore it feels like I was told all of this history for it not really to be relevant to Elle and Jonas just finally having the courage to admit to themselves and one another how they really feel. That happening also doesn’t feel like a reasonable conclusion to the long timeline of Elle, especially with it left open.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child death, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Infertility

This book includes significant description and discussion of child abuse, sexual assault inc. rape, and child death. It at times references suicide, sometimes insensitively.

marlee_grace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Slow paced. Confusing timeline. Too many characters to keep track of. Enjoyed the concept.

If it wasn't for the shameless book club, this would have been a DNF. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Rape, Grief, Infidelity, Infertility, and Death

joey1914's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Infertility, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

alyssagirardi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Infidelity, and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Infertility

sineadisreadingagain's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Infertility, and Death

ameliaj_adams's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This was a really beautifully written book which tackled some really dark themes. This isn’t normally the kind of book that I’d go for (hence the lower rating) and I initially struggled to get into it, however I can definitely see the appeal for others. I struggled to connect and relate to the characters (though this may be because I’m not the target audience) however the setting was very vividly imagined and described beautifully, and the book had an interesting structure that kept me reading, as the narrator continues to switch back and forth between her childhood and life leading up to the present, and the present day itself. The ending was a little underwhelming, but all in all it was an okay read, and one that I can understand why it is so popular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Death, Infertility, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Suicide