Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Las Virgenes Suicidas by Jeffrey Eugenides

20 reviews

nenya's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

I read this book as the start of manic hot girl summer (and also to celebrate the end of my reading slump) and while I read this relatively fast, I must say I expected it to be far more triggering and manic than it ended up being. And I‘m not gonna lie, I kind of wish it would have been, because I enjoy being creeped out by books - but this was pretty chill actually. I had expected the suicides to be skin crawlingly gore-y but instead they were two pages of slightly disturbing but heavily announced death. What I must say was really interesting though, was the narrative being told in first person plural and, in addition to that, unreliably - something I haven’t encountered before and really enjoyed, but even here, I feel like there was a lot more room for mystery and manipulation of the reader. However, it is most definitely not a bad book - I‘m just not sure whether I‘d like to re-read it one day.
(Oh also: there is the mention of the N-word which really threw me off, as well as casual racism and other problematic themes that were normalized in the novel and not addressed or seen as problematic by the narrators)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Child death, Alcohol, Medical content, Gore, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Pregnancy, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

hmorawska's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood and Medical content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

jenny_librarian's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

This is a book about the patriarchal tendency of dehumanizing women. Which should be enough to tell you why I didn’t like it at all.

The writing itself is good, but that’s about the only redeeming quality to this book. The rest is just men being… well, men. I get what the author wanted to achieve with this, but why it needed to be written in this way is beyond me.

I keep hoping the next “classic” I read is going to be better, and I keep being disappointed because those “classics” were written by allocishet white men in a time women were seen as little more than property.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Infidelity

jaiari12's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Medical content, and Sexism

Minor: Pregnancy

bookshelfofamelie's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pregnancy

fronkiekong's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

watched the movie back in high school and it is a shame i hadn't gotten around to actually reading this until now!!!! the writing is so beautiful and evocative of this honey sickly delirium rotting the neighbourhood from the inside out — much to unpack and peel back. i want to return to this sometime to look more at the developing labour and class issues that kept flitting by in the periphery.
and again, probably not the best place to say this, but i wish i had a sister.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse

zoewillls's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

to say i enjoyed this book would be a misinterpretation of my thoughts, however i found it so beautifully written which hid the dark subject matter and emphasised the fact that the boys only viewed the girls as objects and ignored any deeper feelings the girls tried to highlight. i would like to see the book written from the girls’ perspective as i think it would be a very different story. the book was a gracious but ignorant nod at the male gaze. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Pregnancy

aliciaadieguez's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Self harm

Moderate: Pregnancy

karenaerts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Racism

babyanarkist's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

I loved the writing. Absolutely adored it.

It is one of those books that carries itself completely in the writing, and the plot becomes an afterthought. The way the sentences flow endlessly with details of places and people, because the boys know everyone but the virgins. From the diabetic kid to the old neighborhood lady. These people grew up. The girls didn't.

I tend to avoid books with male protagonists, about men (and this book is about the boys). But I can't help loving the deconstruction of the male gaze. 

How do you make suicide boring? By making it realistic. By making it anything but scandalous. By criticizing the way we scandalize suicide. And in all ways, desexualize it. Brilliant. 

I'm probably gonna re-read this in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Ableism, and Racial slurs