Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

16 reviews

thiscoconutreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Infertility, and Self harm

aliceineverhoood's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

sargasso_c's review against another edition

The book was a bit plodding and often fell into the trap of "telling" and not "showing." While the premise is interesting, I feel the author relied too much on creating an air of eeriness and suspense that went on too long and devolved into repetitive scenes that seemed to serve no other purpose than elongating the time between the beginning of the book and it's resolution.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Minor: Abandonment and Child death

batcaves's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

antimony's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

didn’t like when jax went kind of crazy towards the end her conclusions were so nonsense (does it truly make more sense that shirley’s family hired an actor to scare lexie so they could get the house or that there are creepy things in the evil springs that drowned lexie) but i liked the creepy water and i liked the epilogue and i liked ethel’s timeline surprisingly a lot (even though her last chapter her age was so wrong i did the math. if she was 37 in 1929 there is no way she could be 95 in 1972)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Child death and Infertility

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

megelizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS BOOK.

Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. She crafts such incredible, layered narratives, deftly manages alternating timelines, and depicts family relationships, and particularly relationships between sisters, so, so well, and this book is no exception. It's wonderfully atmospheric, brilliantly plotted, and absolutely, completely, utterly devastating.

This was looking to be a 4.5* for me, as I would've liked to have had more clarity over Declan's role in the story, and also although I was loving it, I wasn't finding myself entirely surprised by anything that was happening. However, I definitely spoke too soon there, as the ending shocked me so, so much that I had to read it multiple times to make sure I'd understood it right, and part of me really, really wishes that I hadn't and that I could've stayed in blissful ignorance. My heart will never ever be the same after that ending, and yet I know I'll do it to myself again as I just cannot stay away from McMahon's incredible stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Infertility, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail

uhhlexiconic's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Detracting from the present by illuminating the past, the story barrels towards a rushed and unearned ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Infertility

readwithbells's review against another edition

5.0

This subverted all my expectations. It’s not really a horror but it IS a true gothic and man did it keep me engaged the whole time. Usually with dual perspectives between the past and the present, it doesn’t really work for me, but the way this one was told absolutely did. This is more a story of grief then anything else and is really sad, but I loved the way everything built upon each other. Absolutely my favourite version of “be careful what you wish for”. 

Loved:
- that we knew there was an entity in the pool the whole time
- the way mental health and self harm was dealt with
- the complex familial relationships 
- the ending!! Was exactly what I expected and yet done in a wonderfully surprising way
- the audiobook narrators: loved having 2 of them and they both absolutely smashed it, *highly* recommend the audio version 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Child death

Moderate: Infertility and Alcoholism

Minor: Terminal illness

onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.0

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I kept wanting it to surprise me or have a unique plot point, but unfortunately it never came.  For my review I tried to imagine I was someone who hasn’t read endless thrillers and many generational ghost stories, and through that lens it’s a decent read.  

 

Let’s back up though and talk plot. In it we meet Jax, who is returning to the house she grew up in after her sister has drowned in the pool.  We also meet Ethel, who visited the family’s estate in the 1920s when it was a hotel.  The story weaves between the two timelines and tells the story of the land and the families who have occupied it throughout time. There are multiple unreliable narratives / narrators and in my opinion, that was the backbone for the mystery. 

 

I love a ghost story and I really love generational stories.  I love thrillers and horror.  This should have been a brilliant fit of a read for me, but it just lacked the punchiness and originality.  Again, if you don’t consume paranormal thrillers often this would likely be a good read.  It just wasn’t a great fit for me, personally. 

 

Content warnings: Death, Drowning, Mental illness, Self-harm, Child death, Alcoholism, Infertility 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Infertility, Death, and Self harm

dalmavatai's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

Not as good as The Children on the Hill imo, I found the character development in that one superior. Even so, this is a super solid horror read with a lot of suspense and a memorable sister relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, and Infertility

Minor: Suicide