Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

16 reviews

atreegrowsinbooks's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

What a strange dystopian thriller by Erdrich. Very different than the other books I’ve read by her. 

There were so many twists that I didn’t see coming and I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t able to guess everything that was happening. The character work and storytelling is so successful, and it’s clear that Erdrich can truly write anything. 

While I really enjoyed the writing, the content of this story was unsettling. Especially when women’s rights have been further taken away. In some aspects, the story isn’t that far off from what could happen. 

I haven’t read A Handmaid’s Tale, but I’ve seen the show and this book is definitely similar to that. This is an indigenous version that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a dystopian thriller with links to the real world as we know it. 

Fun fact, I picked this book up because the first page starts on my birthday 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Abortion

sparklefarm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

WHOOF. Not sure what convinced me, a melancholic woman living in Texas in these times, to read an all-too-believable near-future dystopian novel dealing with reproductive justice, other than the fact that it's written by Louise Erdrich. Ultimately, she once again did. not. miss. with this book. I could have picked a better time to read it though. 😆 That being said, I don't know that I've ever read a book this dystopian and this full of wonder, possibility, and hope. In our current landscape as in a chaotic, terrifying, possible future, we can hold both.

Ending -

I appreciated that we did not end in a happy smiley way (it seemed at some points that it could!) as that would feel disingenuous to the story. And yet to leave Cedar at her most vulnerable, most alone, and least likely to escape, was the most gut-wrenching way to end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Murder, Mental illness, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Torture and Suicidal thoughts

laratboulos's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Medical trauma, Child death, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Forced institutionalization

raptorq's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Miscarriage, Murder, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Violence and Blood

lamegod's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Cursing, Abortion, Blood, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

qteabeans's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This is such a powerful example of a book that is so good but outside of my wheelhouse. If you want to read about someone navigating what family is, how heritage impacts us, and how all of that crashes together when you're expecting a child, this would be a great book for you. It is a lovely piece of literary fiction that uses a lot of Catholic references. If that sounds like your jam, you'll probably love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Child death

Minor: Infidelity, Gun violence, and Alcohol

20sidedbi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Infertility, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts

sarahjulianna'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Blood, Death, Sexism, Confinement, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

nostradamnus's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad slow-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

Read this if you want to: explore the political climate of the late 2010s/early 2020s through fiction;  read about real, specific people navigating the end of the present world; and/or be made deeply aware of your body and its evolutionary history. Also, if you're into transitionary dystopias.

It's very frustrating to like this book less than The Handmaid's Tale because I think this book is arguably better--it has higher and more specific spec-to-fic ratio, characters that were real, and a really graphic description of watching someone give birth--but I read THT years ago, and I read FHOTLG in 2023. It's the day after my state put in an emergency stop for all trans healthcare. Roe v. Wade is dead. Abortion pills may be next. And I think right now, forced birthing centers, pregnancy policing, and a rising Christo-fascist government just feel a bit too real. 

Maybe I'll be able to reread this in a few years and be able to really take it all in, appreciate it for what it is, but wrong place, wrong time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

Moderate: Torture and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts

maria_elizabeth_harden_pope's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

2.75

I think there's really too much going on in this book. The meditations on women, on new life, on pregnancy, on the divine are really beautiful, and I appreciate the main character and her perspective a bunch. But the plot well.... it's hard to follow... there's maybe not quite enough exposition about the world (which is maybe intentional- but it could have been executed better)... and a lot of plot points feel sort of out of the blue/ not well-incorporated. I also think that the way that the main character's indigenous identity was explored felt like an afterthought. It could have been more integral to the book or not done at all.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization