Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

2 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Torture, Violence, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child death, Death, Body horror, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Abortion, Vomit, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

sofipitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

This book was really good but it can be slow to start. Especially since each chapter alters between past and present it can be frustrating when a chapter ends on a cliffhanger only to know you won't get it resolved immediately. It also takes a while for all the pieces to come together but when they do it's really satisfying and makes a lot of sense. The medical content is also really well done, I looked up if the author has a medical background and it doesn't seem like it, so she did her research and did an awesome job, bc as a healing women Rue wouldn't know the modern names of diseases but the way she describes them you always know what she's talking about.

I would really recommend this book but do check the trigger warnings, if some topics are an issue for you.


(Just my soapbox but I think this book is very firmly magical realism, not fantasy, and honestly that a book can't be both in the fantasy and magical realism genres, they both have magic but the fundamentals contradict one another.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Rape, Abortion, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Slavery, War, and Racial slurs

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Blood, and Dementia