Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

4 reviews

abnormal_shadow's review

emotional funny inspiring 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

I didn't go into this book with a clear understanding of what it was. I listened to this as an audiobook on Libby and I would very much recommend this method. It felt like a podcast. The main character address me as a character. In the book I answer her questions, I follow her story and I check up on her. The audiobook had music, the sounds of waves and the scratching of pens and pencils on paper. The main character is flawed, she often doesn't see how she makes people actually feel. She is confident and assertive to the extent that

it took a public argument with her sister to understand how she actual hurt the people in her life (Fernando and the sister).  Its seeing the other side of a child's life, how she feels she was doing her best, her side of the day that her son left, her side of the lives of those around her, her account of events.

You can tell in the book that she is an unreliable narrator and its easy to sympathize with her until certain things click you as a reader get angry with her but not for long. She is not a bad person she is just doing bad things and doesn't understand that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Grief, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy

rayannotates's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Kidnapping and Pedophilia

graceesford's review

emotional funny reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Infertility

criticalgayze's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

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

4.25

This is my 5th book for the Aspen Words Literary Prize longlist and my first audiobook of the year.

The audiobook was recommended to me specifically as the way to interact with this one, and I couldn't agree more. Rossmery Almante's portrayal of Cara Romero is incredibly endearing, and they do some fun and interesting things with sound effects and music that make the listening experience feel more immersive.

Storytelling gimmicks are a hard trick to pull off, and I didn't always groove with this one, but Cara Romero (through Cruz's caring work crafting her voice, is so indelible that this can often be overlooked. She is so incredibly funny but also so intuitively kind and self-reflective. I also like the satire present in some of the interstitial materials between interviews and the commentary those provide on the modern state of rent in America, especially in metropolitan areas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Cancer

Minor: Death, Misogyny, Infidelity, Infertility, and Sexual content