Review by meeklovestoread - The Frozen River

meeklovestoread 's review for:

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

3.5

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I'm actually pretty sad about this reading because I really wanted to love this book, considering the number of rave reviews it had. I loved the cover and thought the premise was so interesting, but unfortunately, this book fell flat for me.

I like the first 40%, but I knew it wasn't going to be five stars, more like a solid 4, which I was okay with, but then we got to the middle section, and it just all went downhill for me until the last 15% or so when things picked up for me.

Reasons why this book didn't gel with me:

I didn't like how the author depicted feminism in here. There is more discourse about this on Goodreads, and I tend to agree with the reviewers on that. There's a way to depict the plight of women without having to subjugate men. There were so many backhanded comments towards men in this book that I found them unnerving. Ex: "This is women's work at its most elemental. Men have no place in this room, no right." This is Martha referring that men have no place in the birthing rooms when women are giving birth. Huhhhhh?????? Uhmmm.........there are male doctors. As well as their spouses. I wish I highlighted more, but there are so many of those comments in this book. And I'm usually never one to harp on feminism in a book, but I don't like the way it was done here.

In addition, this book is supposed to be a historical fiction book, but there were many times when our FMC, Martha, didn't read like a woman from the 1700s. And I'm not necessarily talking about her modern view on how women should have rights, cuz DUH, but more so the dialogue and the interactions she had with other men. Aside from the antagonists, it didn't seem like she was gaining any flak from the other male characters. Also, at times, her very modern feminist views weren't consistent. I felt like she could be a bit judgmental towards women who didn't share her viewpoint of actions she didn't approve of.

The plot. Lackluster. I was so disappointed. This book is advertised as part thriller, but I kid you not, we get like 20% of the actual thriller plot. Broooooo, so many scenes in this book could've been cut. The insurmountable amount of birthing scenes, some were relevant to the story, however, others didn't need to be there. I didn't need a birthing scene every other chapter to establish the FMC's profession. We get it, she's a midwife. Let's move along. I felt like this book dragged for me because of that. I was actually going to dnf it 48% through, but pushed through by listening to the rest on audio.

And speaking of the plot, when I was reading this book, I was struggling to comprehend what it was trying to be. Now, it has been a few days since I've read the book, so I don't have too many specific details, but what irked me was that we got lots of pages of Martha's mundane existence. Just so much attention was paid to the dynamics of the people and the relationship in the town that I felt like it took away from what the story was actually trying to accomplish, and again, I'm still not sure what the messaging here is supposed to be. It was good for the first 40% to set the scene, but after that, things just got boring real quick because we took a pause from the plot to discuss other things that truly didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. And then things ramped up in the last 15% which was satisfying to round out Martha's arc, but I felt like we didn't get much for Rebecca in the end.

All in all, I understand why people love and connect, and resonate with this book. Although I clearly wasn't a fan of her remarks towards men, I did really enjoy how she stood up for the female characters in this book. She was always advocating for them. She always presents herself with strength. And I admire just how dedicated she was to her job; like, there was really no rest for Martha in this book.

I do understand the appeal. And I read the author's note, so although this story is based on the interpretation of how she wanted to portray said following events, I do appreciate her shedding light on someone who contributed so much to women's history. However, this book just didn't hit the mark as much as I would've liked it to, unfortunately.

Spice Rating:🫑/5

Content Warnings