Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Severance by Ling Ma

129 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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 book really freaked me out from beginning to end. It was published in August 2018, over a full year before the first case of COVID. Yet, it has so many eerie parallels to COVID. Parts of it were hard to read for this reason. It was a more extreme form of how the pandemic affected society - to the point I expected zombies to start coming to life at any moment. Between the prescience and the severity of the impact, I was so spooked! Lots of other themes underpinning the book too. Great book to teach in school. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

dr_kat's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I read this tender, troubling, complex, engaging novel and it wedged into the folds of my brain and wouldn’t shake out. Then the world shut down and a plague worked it’s way into our lives. All I could think about was this book. Weirdly, it helped to see how the protagonist handled her situation; her trials and troubles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

dedusmuln's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Death, Blood, Sexism, and Confinement

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia

xosirenox's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicide and Vomit

siriface's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Medical trauma

amaya_jam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

i’m embarrassed by how much i enjoyed this. for the first time, in a really long time, I was rushing to do errands and chores just so I could get back to reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Confinement

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Blood

aweekinthelife's review

dark mysterious 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

4.25

so weird to read this 2018 book post-2020 and see all the parallels for how the imagined Shen-fever played out and to see how a global pandemic actually played out. granted, they didn't have to worry about person-to person transmission, but the N95 masks and avoiding people definitely felt familiar. 

the story itself switches between Candace's life leading up to Shen-fever and her post-Shen-fever life which starts with her joining this group traveling west to a facility. the group dynamics are definitely weird, and Bob gives real bad vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Pregnancy and Murder

bookrokosmos's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual content, Gun violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

iro_san's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, Vomit, Cursing, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Gun violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Grief

mirandyli's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Cute and reflective twist on a zombie apocalypse story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, and Drug use