Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

38 reviews

jmstorytime's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I never thought a book would ever top my favorite books of all time. This book though….chefs kiss. I devoured this beautifully written book in 24 hours. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

hurlyburlywitch's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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 was dark, and made my insides roil. I found the protagonist compelling, though some of her choices didnt particularly resonate with me. 
Several plot points hit me like a gut punch, but in the end the plot felt rushed, like they'd run out of book to struggle in, rather than running out of struggle. 
One thing that was missing for me was the acknowledgement of trans people, and how they were impacted by a virus that was more deadly for women. In fact, they might have held some clue- was the virus more deadly based on about organs, or hormones, or purely capacity for pregnancy? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Violence, Death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Excrement, Infidelity, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit

tr4shc4n's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Murder, Violence, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

adventurous dark relaxing

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I listened to this straight and stayed up 2 hours past my bedtime without any idea of how late it was!   I'm generally a fan of post-apocalyptic stories and I really enjoyed this take from this bi/pansexual woman, a reproductive healthcare professional, perspective.  

***Note about CWs: bad things are seen as bad by narrator, and hard topics didn't feel hopeless***

My main content warnings:
Lots of dead bodies, 
Miscarriages/stillborns,
Sexual assault(1 in first person) most are mentions after,
Killing(self defense),
Child abuse(LDS child bride)
Women are traded by men for sex

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Abortion, Biphobia, and Alcohol

kelishiaradhalal's review

dark hopeful fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Incest, and Rape

scoobygirl93's review

I was looking forward to reading this and I wanted to love it. It's just spending so much time in the time period of immediately post event, and I'm bored, I'm more interested in the this is how the world is now time period.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Infertility, Blood, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Miscarriage, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, and Medical trauma

missrisslee's review

dark emotional tense 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Violence

maxx_'s review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is amazing. If your looking for something that is a realistic take on what would happen to women in the event that the world collapsed,  this is for you. It’s not an easy read because it is pretty graphic but I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Slavery, Gore, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death and Miscarriage

inky_cap's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Abortion, Rape, Child death, and Sexual violence

katrinarose's review

dark reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Extremely bleak and tough read but I could not put it down. I loved the character of the unnamed midwife and the how well the author also developed even minor characters as they appeared. I also like the alternating style of her journal and omnipresent narrative. I was taken aback at first when we learned about characters and events that the midwife did not know about but it was satisfying (although sad). I like that the author didn’t shy away from the brutal realities of this post-apocalyptic world, and didn’t sugarcoat her view of human nature, as depressing as it was. This book is definitely not for everyone (between the triggering content, narrative style, and somewhat bare plot) but I really liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Blood, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Pedophilia, Rape, Murder, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Homophobia, Infertility, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abortion, Grief, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Emotional abuse