Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Magpie by Elizabeth Day

120 reviews

marshmalison's review

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility and Miscarriage

amberinbookland's review

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility and Pregnancy

bumble_abi's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

you can tell I'm not having a great time with my mental health because I'm reading mass market thrillers again 

this is blurbed as 'the most mind-blowing book of the year' which is the kind of hyperbole that can only set a book up for a fall. Marisa and her lovely boyfriend move in together and try to start a family, but Marisa is increasingly disturbed by the behaviour of their solicitous and overfamiliar lodger, Kate. There's a decent twist in this but it occurs only about a third of the way into the book, and then the rest is the long unraveling of how we got to that point, followed by a slightly too tidy ending.

This truly did feel like a book of two halves - the first half is great, tense and confusing and addictive, but it peaks too early and doesn't leave enough meat for the second half. There's not enough depth to any of it to justify its ultimate meandering. There's a (not graphic - the narrative voice just tells you it happened) rape scene which didn't have very much of a purpose in the plot except as a shortcut to creating a character who is unstable, which felt unnecessary and distasteful. I enjoyed it well enough but wouldn't rush to recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Infertility, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape and Violence

stagasaurus's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Infertility, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Miscarriage

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Gaslighting

cleexxx's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Infertility, and Sexual violence

tessalort's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

velvet_young's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Stalking

mi_bookshelf's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

2.75

This was not what I was expecting. 

This felt like 2 books. The first half was a thriller and then it switched to motherhood manifesto? And then Marisa's Schizophrenia never made another appearance - it felt like a plot device which felt wrong, making these people out to be violent would-be murderers if not on their meds. And after she attacks and ties up Kate, Kate just, doesn't react??

Overall, I felt like this book was trying to do too much in one book, to the point that none of the concepts felt like they were executed well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Minor: Blood

hollymileham's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

such an interesting exploration of all the different complexities of motherhood, the twists in this blew my mind. defo lying if you say you predicted any part of this
rating 4 stars tho bc i feel like the ending was a bit optimistic for such an intense book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment and Suicidal thoughts

lucyyybee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

This book… Um, don’t know where to start. It was boring, exciting plot twist, back to boring. But within all the boring was also just confusion.

Evil MIL who played small role in book ends up being the biggest issue? Somehow thinking the woman with bipolar / schizophrenia who tried to kill her sons girlfriend was a better fit for her son. Mind you, she’s very stuck up and uppity. So that makes no sense as her son is “perfect” and she would otherwise see Marisa as very flawed.

Also paints mental illness in an odd way. I don’t know. I forced myself through it hoping for a good ending. I was let down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Grief, and Infertility