Reviews

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

becca_shaw_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

bookshelf_therapy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

4.5

samfox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

lexihworth's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Rape, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, Slavery, Sexual content, Gore, Violence, Sexism, Gun violence, Trafficking, and Suicide

Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Child death, Biphobia, Miscarriage, Drug use, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Cursing, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Gun violence, Animal death, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Biphobia, and Child death

A large portion of the book is dedicated to a storyline that follows a Mormon settlement, if you have religious trauma related to Mormonism, be aware. This book is HEAVY, but it was also amazingly written and I️ don’t regret reading it.

charlotte_trimmer's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.75

extraterrestrialcrisis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Blood, Rape, Death, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Child death, Sexual violence, Murder, Medical content, and Trafficking

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Slavery, Abortion, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, and Adult/minor relationship

zee_83's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Was an interesting read. Bit of a scary perspective of what could happen should a pandemic wipe out most humans. Especially given we have lived through a pandemic.

illusie's review against another edition

1.0

I picked up this book because of the beautiful cover and because the story sounded interesting. It's horrible to imagine a flu can be so deadly. I tried to get into this book, but after reading several chapters I decided not to finish it. I felt no connection with any of the characters. I also didn't like the added diary chapters of the unnamed midwife. The font made it hard to read those parts on my ereader and I didn't like the way those were written.

ktaroo939's review against another edition

5.0

Fantastic book!

Ohh I loved this book! I read it in one day and couldn't put it down. So much like the handmaids tale but with a lead character who is a bit stronger and the tone is one of perseverance, not resignation. Loved it!

bristlecone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Although this reads largely like a standard in the post apocalypse genre, it is much more than a standard. For one, it is one of the few books in the genre that treats women like real people who are forced to operate under a different set of rules and who make decisions that they hope will help them survive given those rules.

It also accurately illustrated what most women already know, that a large percentage of men that we interact with don't see us as fully humans, that if societal norms broke down, a large number of the men that we work with and interact with would happily devolve into treating us like objects. Even some of the "good guys" in this who protect women display a feeling of ownership or the basic idea that women must be protected in order to have children and rebuild the human race, not because the woman is valuable just as a complete human being.  I saw a comment that said "apparently the only men who survive are rapists and murderers" but that isn't the case. Decent men survive, it's just they are such a rarity in the "before world" that they are even more rare in the "after world".