Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

29 reviews

elissa_t's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is my second Steinbeck book and I’m starting my third tomorrow. I will not lie, this book is thick and I was super intimidated by it, but the sorry captivated me and the themes are still very relevant in 2025. I like how the chapters were broken up by small chapters that described tbe scenes, the mood of people and the economics of the time. That helped illustrate the story even more so, along with the characters and dialogue. As someone who lives in California who’s grandparents immigrated here like tbe Joads, I had an extra layer of empathy and understanding. And also sadness. The shear magnitude of how poor, desolate, distraught, worried and lost these characters are made me very emotional. The ending was also perfect. Sad. But perfect.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dani_07's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.0

I was forced to read this book for AP Lang and I hated it. My teacher totally dragged it out for 3 months and we did stupid assignments relating to the novel which made me hate it more. I thought the book was boring and I did not like the ending.

Give me one good reason why Rose of Sharon bre$t feeding a man was the perfect ending to an already dreadful book. You can't, because there is no good reason. Although it may play into the theme of unity it was totally weird. There had to be a better way to showcase the theme and wrap up the book. Besides the ending being weird I also hated it because I like a book with a happy ending, or at least some hope, and Steinbeck left me with nothing but disappointment and sadness.

I did appreciate the biblical allusion and some of the themes, but ultimately it was weird, pointless, and sad. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

chemwhiz95's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emileeandherbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

BAHAHAHAHA that ending!!!!!!!!!!! I could probably go on about how the ending has a deeper meaning, but instead you get my raw reaction haha. 

Anyway. Screw the 1%! Eat the rich! 

Anyway pt. 2. I found this book to be very slow and often times very boring, but when it was good it was really good - and it got me thinking about rich vs. poor, which I’m always thinking about. 

I think the whole message is that we can all choose to be kind, have humanity, and become ‘one’ (hi, communism!!❤️). If we all chose to take care of one another, there wouldn’t be these massive economic gaps that are crippling for the lesser end. I noticed that both rich vs. poor during this book would break ‘societal rules’ / the law but if crime was done by a starving, impoverished person who had trial after trial, I felt it was justified; like stealing or even violent reactions sometimes (how could you not get violent/angry when you’re literally dying alongside your family?) Whereas the rich would shoot people off their property, attack them in the night or call the cops on them. Which is DISGUSTING behavior. Completely uncalled for. I don’t know if what I’m trying to say here makes sense. 

America clearly has an issue with poverty and always has. Which is extremely disheartening. I don’t want to give up though because no matter what, I can help someone somehow. Once we give up, it really will crumble. WE ARE THE MANY! STAND TOGETHER 4EVER!

Lastly, these migrants had it ROUGH! If you want a real, painful look into the Dust Bowl years then read on! If you want a happy book then seriously, go find another read. 9/10 times something bad is happening. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Racial slurs

lylacks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

I think the main issue for me with this book is I just couldn't connect with the joad family. I loved the omniscient chapters and the politics and steinbeck's political commentary that I do think if this was an essay without a cast or even with a more flawed, less morally righteous family I would have absolutely loved this

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Alcohol

the pregnancy and miscarriage warnings are specifically for stillbirth. additional content warnings for poverty, environmental collapse, capitalism, fighting, discriminatory language, murder, and overdose

asphodelhazel13's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-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? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

beautifulminutiae's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Murder

pbeeandj's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny and Racism

sundayfever's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This read much faster than I expected given how long it is. Interesting and made me reflect. The core issues around class, poverty and respect for the land are still issues today, despite the age of this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs