Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

7 reviews

emilywemily6's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

In some ways, this book gave more than I expected, and in other ways, it didn’t quite fulfill what I was hoping for while I was reading. I really liked the conversations on the cosmetic industry, European standards of beauty, the privileges afforded to the privileged, etc. However, there is a lot jammed into this book, and by the end I felt a little unfulfilled in these discussions and plot points that could have gone farther than they did. Also, the main character’s lack of awareness/acceptance of the changes she went through was irksome. If I was suddenly 6 inches taller I would have been startled and run away from Holistik, for one thing, let alone all the other things that happened. She also felt so bad about her relationship with her parents but did nothing to truly fix it or come to terms with it. So I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character. I also felt like the book was over-sexualized. While this novel gave me a lot to think about, it won’t be quite a favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Bullying, Death, Cursing, Medical content, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Drug use, Gore, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Animal cruelty

irenemarie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Infertility, Rape, Racism, Murder, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Drug use

Minor: Car accident, Eating disorder, Blood, and Vomit

whitneymouse's review

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Dysphoria, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit, Fatphobia, Racism, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Cannibalism, Xenophobia, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

mlewis's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Body horror, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Drug use, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Bullying, Alcohol, Miscarriage, and Vomit

probablynisa's review against another edition

dark

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

3.0

Started off strong then got really weird, like could’ve been maybe a little more poignant if the point wasn’t SO in your face. I’m also not the biggest Sci-Fi fan so that is more than likely what’s influencing me but it felt so unrealistic at the end that I feel like it took away from the point by trying to make it so clear . 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Infertility, Medical content, Body horror, Misogyny, Rape, Trafficking, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

mermaidsherbet's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Classism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

marinabkat's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book. 

 

I’m hot off finishing this book and ultimately give it a score of 2.75 stars. I think it’s entertaining, but not a must-read. Pros are that it’s a fast-paced, thrilling, thematically rich, cinematic book that creates quick-buy in. It’s really a great concept. I appreciated the incorporation of discussions of race, Western beauty standards, counterculture, and business ethics. The plot pacing was good, and it looks like this book has already gotten picked up for a screen adaptation, which I see a lot of potential in. Writing wise, I liked the egg and mirror motifs, but beyond that, I really struggled to enjoy this as a book. The execution left a lot to be desired. The surreal parts are hard to follow. A lot of the sentences are short-ish in length and stay that short length, which really affected the flow especially during pivotal horror points. The flow was off. I found the climactic scene REALLY difficult to follow. The anticipation isn’t built that well. For example, the character when the main character begins to see a lot of what’s going on and is in a room she knows she’s not supposed to be in, we don’t get any of her feeling of panic until she’s caught: “What was I thinking? I should not be in this room.” In moments like that, more of the main character’s reactions would have added to the horror and clarified the scene. Some of the scenes, even late in the book, felt conveniently timed and crafted for exposition. 

 

Still, if you like Ottessa Moshfegh, Ling Ma, George Saunders, or the song Faceshopping by SOPHIE, you might enjoy this book. To others, I’d recommend waiting for the screen adaptation!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infertility, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Body shaming

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Torture, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Medical trauma