Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Go as a River by Shelley Read

51 reviews

mthereader's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: War

seventhswan's review

emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

2.75

I can appreciate that Go as a River is a beautifully descriptive, thematically complex book that a lot of people will really enjoy, but despite seeing this logically, I didn't particularly like it. The first half of the story was tediously slow - I enjoyed the second half a lot more, but they felt like different books to me. I also found that a lot of nuance, depth, and sympathy was given to characters like Victoria's father and brother, while more interesting characters like Wil and Ruby-Alice were deprived of agency and left quite one-dimensional. Their portrayals didn't match with what Victoria claimed to feel about them. And, honestly, I just didn't care about or connect with Victoria that much even though she was objectively going through many difficult things. Pretty much every other character seemed to have a more interesting perspective on what was going on.

The descriptions of the book's setting and the changing time periods were the highlights of this story for me, and I did feel emotional in places purely because of the amounts of suffering various characters went through. However, everything wrapped up so neatly and relied on so many improbable coincidences that it was just not a book that really worked for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, and War

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

plasticpansy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and War

alexisgarcia's review

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

0.5

this was so so disappointing. the characters are incredibly one dimensional and stereotypical, the plot is incredibly unbelievable and boring, and the author used the singular Indigenous American character is barely featured and simply used to further the main characters story and then thrown away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

erinwea's review

adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Beautifully written. Loved the
Colorado history and geography.  A little too much trauma for 5 stars, but overall redemptive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

thepletts's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racism, and Pregnancy

maryfranvs's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexism, Car accident, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Infertility and Sexual content

sophiafpeach's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lauren0019's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Abandonment

Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Miscarriage and War

dakotaflower's review

emotional medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy