Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

41 reviews

mickeydoodle99's review against another edition

I feel like I gave this one a fair chance. I loved the audiobook narrator and the way she brought the characters to life. The story felt very authentic and dealt with some really hard issues surrounding slavery and the war. The reason I didn't finish and couldn't get into it was that it was really confusing for me. 

Something about the way the author jumped between time periods didn't make sense in my head. At one point, maybe a quarter of the way into the audiobook, one of my kids got my phone and skipped ahead and I didn't notice because | was already so confused. From there it obviously was confusing, but I could tell it was still jumping around which characters it was following during which time periods. Thinking about finishing made my head hurt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Racial slurs, Abortion, Racism, and Miscarriage

knenigans's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Abortion, Death of parent, Abandonment, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

britlovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? N/A

4.0

Took me awhile to get through this one because it's very heavy and the plot moves pretty slowly. 

But in the end things started moving more quickly and everything tied together. A difficult read but a good read.
The author's note at the end adds even more depth and made the story stand out even more for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Rape, War, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Grief, Confinement, Child death, and Blood

exrthalex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

I love the way this book was written. Atakora does a fantastic job building the suspense and tension while establishing the relationship between characters using different timelines. The characters are unique and personable. I was both intrigued and disturbed by the plot development- in fact, I would describe this book as an emotional rollercoaster. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Alcohol, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Death, Rape, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

book_cave_ghost_girl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Unforgettable deep dive into the immense cruelty and dehumanization of chattel slavery and the complex relationships of the characters with each other when it comes to love and power-- will make you feel your feelings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Gore, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcoholism, Murder, War, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Child death

birdomens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is beautiful. It’s painted so well with a mix of magic and reality. Afia follows tangled roots of stories in a way that both acknowledges their complexity and keeps connections and plot clear to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Hate crime, Torture, Trafficking, Body horror, Confinement, Abortion, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, War, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Violence, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

paulineerika's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This one is a hard one for me to rate. I had originally started reading it from the library months ago, but couldn't really get into it, so I ended up returning it. I later bought it so that I would have more time to read it and ended up finishing it in a relatively short amount of time.

I've seen some other reviews criticize the plot of this book as being too meandering or drifting and I can see that. I think the summary provided is misleading: this isn't a clear story about three women and their lives throughout the end of the Civil War. In fact, I wouldn't really call it a story about three women at all. If anything, it's Rue's story, but it's really more about the community in the aftermath of the Civil War. I think one reviewer had it right: the story felt like a mood, not a plot. It's not one that's easily defined or even described. 

Atakora's writing is wonderful and I enjoyed it, but the book itself was not as enjoyable, if that makes sense. I was stressed a lot when reading it, waiting for the worst to happen. And while the axe never quite falls, there is a lot of tragedy and trauma that the characters experience almost casually, like it's just a regular part of life, which is heartbreaking. (Of course, given the setting of the story, I guess that's not so surprising.) The ending is tentatively happy, but not completely satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

adamsbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-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

5.0

What a striking read! We follow a mother and daughter during pre/post civil war times. Rue was such a great character and watching her growth from a naive child to a powerful woman was wonderful. I enjoyed all of the magical imagery in this novel. The ending was so emotional and was the perfect wrap up to this stellar story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Murder, Medical content, Grief, Slavery, Racism, War, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

madeleinebay's review against another edition

emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Murder, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.25

Something's missing. I found myself confused through most the book, and not in the normal way that I like to be confused whenever I'm reading magical realism. Something's just not there. I'm not sure what it is, or if this even makes sense, but I realized it about a quarter of the way through, and that feeling just lingered the rest of the time. I would say maybe I need to reread it in the future, but who knows if I will. The subject matter of slavery is already so triggering for me, but with the rest of the triggering content I know I won't pick it up again for, mm, maybe three years minimum. Not to say that the content is explicit or overt, that's just how triggers are, in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Racism, Torture, Infidelity, Confinement, Miscarriage, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child death, Grief, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Dementia, War, Misogyny, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infertility, Murder, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Stalking