Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - De Rachel-affaire

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

De Rachel-affaire by Caroline O'Donoghue

133 reviews

rachel5atherton's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-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: Yes

Content Warnings

boyer22j's review against another edition

3.25

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

An interesting tale of youth and growing up.

Content Warnings

halierivers's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Coming from someone who is not a literary fic reader I found myself pleasantly surprised by the end. I had to trudge through the first half but the drama picked up and I found myself caring about Rachels story.

People are spot on saying this sounds very much like a memoir about a 20-something Irish woman in the early 2000s struggling along with poverty and secrets. But it’s also a lovely story about lifelong friendships and reuniting with loved ones even after you fall apart miserably. I probably will never re-read this but I felt my time was well spent in the end.

Content Warnings

thoughtswerehad's review against another edition

3.75

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

madelinedalton's review against another edition

4.0

reflective medium-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

This is objectively a great book, but perhaps wasn’t the right pick after finishing a YA dystopian trilogy because the stakes paled in comparison to what I’d been reading prior. The stakes certainly did ramp up towards the end, and high stakes aren’t a requirement for a good book, but it made it a little hard to get sucked into.

I love the distinct narrative voice of this novel. It is upbeat, witty, and full of personality, which is so refreshing in the lit fic space.

Abortion and pregnancy are used as plot devices with so much skill and intention, which is also refreshing.

I think my main gripe about this book is the relationship between Rachel and James. It was so sweet to see two people who know each other inside and out, but Rachel was so quick to

forgive him or think of his behavior as a non-issue when he literally caused so much of her suffering by having an affair with Dr. Byrne. It is admirable (and the right call) that she never outed him and kept his secret for years, but hoooooo boy did I want her to throw him under the bus sometimes. I wanted her to get ANGRY with him and have to tease that out. When they did get into a fight about him moving, it was petty and easy to patch up. I wanted more tension and found her lack of concern with his behavior to be almost unbelievable at times.

Content Warnings

blackrock_bunny's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional funny medium-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

I started off really enjoying this book, in spite of how awful the main characters are (I normally can't finish a book if I find the characters really unpleasant, so it's a testament to how good a writer O'Donoghue is that I stuck with it), but by the end I wanted to throw it across the room. As a Gen X woman I really thought the younger generations of women were doing such an amazing job of breaking free of the internalised misogyny that my generation and those before haven't been so successful at doing, but I was really disgusted to read, in the closing pages of the book

how Rachel was so glad that Deenie had a partner and stepchildren and that she hadn't been "left with nothing". Because a woman is "nothing" without a man and children, right?! Even though we know from earlier in the book that Deenie has a career she loves and a great group of friends – that's "nothing" according to the author.

So while O'Donoghue might congratulate herself for writing about women having kinky sex and abortions, she might want to dig a bit deeper into her own internalised misogyny and see that she still has a bit of work to do.

Content Warnings

constancely's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

Content Warnings

eve81's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 7%

Contains pregnant details(not mentioned in blurb) which I have no interest in.

Content Warnings

lildarkage's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

Content Warnings

madalbe's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny 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: Yes

This book is highly engaging, with likeable characters who make unfortunate choices. However, there are a lot of plot beats that have a good resolution, so I didn't find it too frustrating. It's fun to listen to as an audiobook because the narrator is fun to listen to.

Content Warnings

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