Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Brillo by Raven Leilani

78 reviews

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

The last third of this book saved it from getting a lower rating. While I can appreciate the poetry and extended metaphors in Leilani’s writing, I can’t help but feeling it comes across as rather constipated and convoluted in parts. I quite often found myself completely lost and having to reread to regather the thread of the prose.

The actual premise was intriguing - the commencing few chapters were not particularly enthralling, but the pace did pick up later on in the novel. The portrayal of nihilistic self-destructive sex was raw and ugly, knitted together in a web of nuanced discussions on race, sexuality, feminism and capitalism which I found very interesting and affecting. These are the parts that dragged this book up in its rating.

However, I overall found this to be quite a slog to get through. I powered through the final half in one sitting, and the concluding chapters were immaculately done. But in the end I wasn’t particularly enthralled or interested in Edie as a character.

I stand by my appreciation for Leilani’s prose, and I finish my review with this quote that I found powerful:

I am inclined to pray, but on principle, I don’t. God is not for women. He is for the fruit. He makes you want and he makes you wicked, and while you sleep, he plants a seed in your womb that will be born just to die.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Fatphobia, Grief, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Addiction

jessidaisy's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Police brutality, Abortion, and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Pregnancy

marjoleinvanderspoel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug abuse

Minor: Grief and Animal death

p0wrpff's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I was so excited to read this and it got off to a promising start, but it soon became a drag when the plot took unbelievable turns and didn’t back it up with plausible character development. Some of the writing is really good, but it’s so inconsistent. Some of the stylistic choices such as page long sentences with no comma or full stop took me out of the pacing entirely 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Abortion, Drug use, Infertility, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Miscarriage

joanaprneves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This is a compulsive read. Which I honestly am starting to question. Is that a good thing? The book is very well written to the point where I felt it was almost too well written. I associate this book with Taddeo’s Animal where the writer’s virtuosic writing is too present and thus performative. Sometimes the descriptive somersaults are spot on, and a lot of the times they seem to be there for effect. Same with the plot and the characters. Of course the wife works at the morgue and many scenes will develop there; of course the husband is an archivist, talking on the phone about weird specimens, of course there is

a pregnancy and its inevitable miscarriage.
All this while there is very little character development and no real incursion into the characters and their behaviour. The middle-aged characters have the most movie-cliche middle-age crisis, whereas the young twenty-something is critiqued for the instant-validation typical of her generation. Of course

the character’s weird behaviour is explained as a journey into becoming an artist. I felt that this was an excuse that prevented a real excursion into trauma, aspirations, sexual desire and  the hardships of working terrible jobs.
Just like in Animal, this seems like a very well produced hit song lacking the depth of an indie first album.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Infertility

Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

booksaremyabode's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Racial slurs, Blood, and Pregnancy

nataliereadz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual violence

Minor: Police brutality

ashleybeereads's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Infertility

Minor: Vomit and Abortion

onion's review against another edition

mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Racism, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Police brutality

madelynfrank's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

Writing was gorgeous. Grimy. Other reviews said “sexy” and it’s def M. But sexy doesn’t quite describe. Some really soft and heartbreaking moments. I felt satisfied with the choice of ending. Also check TWs if there’s stuff you look out for, felt like I was checking a lot of boxes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Car accident, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Body horror, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, and Violence