Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The End Of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

12 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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? No

2.75

Overall this novel was a breeze to get through; just enough diversity of prose and mystery to keep you turning the pages. I wished the idea that “power is bad no matter who has it” was more pervasive. It seemed like almost an afterthought or accidentally included. There was quite a bit of “cops are good and necessary” which was off-putting. You would hope the new world described wouldn’t include the violence of police. It felt a bit like the author threw in the notes from sensitivity readers all in the last 100 pages as an afterthought as well. Most of the characters had the same personality, even though it seems to be trying to be a feminist story. It came together in the end well. I would recommend it as an easy read if you aren’t hoping to take it too seriously. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Infertility, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Deportation, Gun violence, Alcohol, Genocide, and Fatphobia

jishwathebig's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide

nanirump's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective sad fast-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? Yes

3.75

This was a quick read with lots of short chapters. I found the multitude of characters a lot and I wasn't particularly attached to any of them and got them confused more than I didn't. I liked the varied exploration of peoples' experiences and it hit differently after the world actually having gone through a global pandemic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia, Suicide, War, Violence, and Pregnancy

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is so ridiculously good, I don’t have words. This is a dystopian reality that is 100% believable and so, so interesting to think about and reflect on. Weaved through the compelling stories of multiple women across, predominately, Europe, it expertly asks the question, how different would the world be without men? How do we allocate labor and essential jobs, food, sperm (literally)? How to the small amount of remaining men function, how do they react? Does this change the way women view and accept their sexuality? My god I could talk for an hour about how fascinating this is. Just do yourself a favor and read it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Child death, Alcohol, Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Misogyny, Murder, and Self harm

leannanecdote's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, War, and Ableism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Transphobia, Trafficking, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

brenna2themax's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed reading this book and tore through it in a few days. I actually cried a few times while reading it when getting to the points in the story discussing toddlers and babies dying. I can't remember the last time I cried while reading a book, I'm not a big crier.
Very exciting and fast paced. The characters felt real, but all very similar. Part of this is that we all see them in the same situation of sudden, world-wide devastation and unbearable grief and fear, and there's not a whole lot of character development or exploration beyond that. The story is told from the perspective of many different people throughout the plague, mostly in Scotland and England, but we also hear briefly from a woman in Canada and a Fillipino woman in Singapore and then the Philippines. They all have the same/very similar socioeconomic standing, and all but 2 are white.
Still, I very much enjoyed reading this. A good thriller without a villain.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child death

Minor: Suicide, Trafficking, Homophobia, and Transphobia

cheye13's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.0

It started off well, but lost me around halfway. Ultimately, I'm not sure what... the point... was... 

It's pitched as a feminist dystopia, but only mentions women taking over positions of power in the briefest asides. The real focus is the fallout of losing half the population. All of the recovery is focused on repopulation: protecting surviving men, birthing healthy boys, rationing sperm. Despite the female POVs, all the attention is once more on the men. Counterintuitively, it felt like the story coddled men while women buckled down to helm survival.

The most cohesive and developed theme was not women in positions of power, but fertility.

The book is tidily bookended by Catherine's fertility problems and eventual pregnancy.

All of the grief and fear we see in-depth is for husbands and sons – not fathers or brothers. Fertility stories are important, but this one felt incidental; it was the most coherent throughline, but didn't explore the topic in any meaningful way.

The specific careers (genetics, anthropology, government intelligence) spread the content of the novel too thin. With such intricate professions, there wasn't enough research to provide more than a superficial involvement in the novel's entire premise.

The identity diversity also felt like a hamfisted afterthought rather than a significant facet of the characters that would affect their approach to events. I appreciated the acknowledgement of the trans experience, but it felt extremely shoehorned, and again, not explored in any meaningful way. Sexuality and racial diversity wasn't handled any better, and there was nearly no class diversity.

The writing style was exceedinly readable, and the narrative was generally engaging. But ultimately, I sat down for a dissection of gender in the modern world, and instead got an exceedingly heteronormative narrative that in no way challenged the status quo, skirted gender essentialism, and was also kinda depressing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Misogyny, Suicide, Transphobia, and War

the transphobia I mention isn't just that inherent in the premise; a trans character mentions how much more difficult life has been for trans people after "the plague," including an increase in general transphobia and transphobic violence

thelibraryofanna's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abandonment, Suicide, and Misogyny

auteaandtales's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Racism, Gun violence, War, Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, and Transphobia

holliejoy's review

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness