Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

60 reviews

readingonthefly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Frozen River is everywhere right now, and rightfully so. I will admit I’m not generally one to read books with murder. I’m more of a romance girlie but the second I saw the main character being compared to Claire Fraser of Outlander, I knew I needed to read it.

Martha Ballard is a healer and midwife in 1700s Maine. She is strong willed, fierce, independent, outspoken, and confident. She has delivered hundreds of babies and knows what she’s doing. She keeps track of it in her journal, along with the weather and where she’s been each day. While helping the women of her town, she unfortunately has to deal with some “know it all” men and the unjust court system. You will find yourself rooting for the good people of Hallowell and hoping for justice.

This book doesn’t only focus on Martha Ballard and delivering babies, but also on her family, the town of Hallowell, and the frozen Kennebec River. 

There are MANY trigger warnings to this book, feel free to message if you have any questions or concerns. 

I absolutely LOVED this book. The writing is what stood out to me the most. I also loved the medical aspect of the book and following along with Martha and her patients. I was able to fly through this book, which was a problem because it ended too quickly. I could have read double what was written because it was so so good. This is the type of historical fiction I wish there was more of!

5 GLOWING ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Child death, Murder, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death, Rape, and Medical trauma

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.5

Martha Ballard is a badass midwife from the late 1700’s living in the newly settled USA. I am obsessed with her and how strong and opinionated she was for that time period, she was a smart and talented woman and when she spoke people listened. She also has such a loving husband and amazing kids. I didn’t know until I got to the end that she was a real person and this book was based loosely on the actual journals that she kept. I love a book about a strong matriarch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Medical content, Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Minor: War

mamajeter's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious medium-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

5.0

Great read. I look forward to reading other books by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, War, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment

bookishwithhou's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I love historical fiction, especially when it is based around a real person’s life. In real life Martha Ballard was a midwife who caught over 1,000 babies and never lost a mother, as well as the great aunt of Clara Barton. In this novel, she is the same, but also plays a hand in helping unravel a murder and an assault on one of her neighbors. Some of these events are pulled directly from her real diary. I enjoyed the moments of everyday life in 18th century Maine, from candle making to food. 

I always love fiction about midwives—however I do feel like the author took liberties, perhaps based on her own experiences in childbirth, instead of consulting a real midwife’s view on women or their headspace during birth. (There is no mention of consulting a midwife in the authors note or acknowledgments, only childbirth practices for this time period.) Ballard’s character at one point says “in birth all women are novice” …or something to that effect. While this may be true for some, I find the birth workers and midwives I know have a bit more respect for the innate wisdom and intuition many women have when it comes to their births. Just a little something to note! 

I loved that the author’s note explained certain creative decisions that were made, and I’m excited to read A Midwife’s Tale, which chronicles Martha Ballard’s actual life.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

hugsy85's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Medical content, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Murder, Rape, and Sexual violence

mega_reader's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring mysterious

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Child death and Medical content

reading_ladies_blog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Child death, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

mtnest's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Classism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Sexual content, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and War

author2223's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pregnancy and Child death

cassiebartelme's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Historical fiction based on a badass midwife AND it’s in Maine? Um, yes please. This was really good, I even took a walk in the pouring rain so I could keep listening to the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Child death