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nonfictionfeminist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Confinement, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
kaylinvm94's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Abortion, Confinement, and Medical content
irenemarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Abortion, Classism, Alcohol, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
that being said i really liked the journey. this book is a lesson in how a normal life can take a couple of turns into Uber-weird and horrifying, and how close and familiar those creepy pro-choice conservatives really are at all times. people like that tend to feel mythical and easy to write off as bible thumpers harassing people outside of PP, but realistically those people are all around us & hidden amongst seemingly sane individuals. spooky and tummy-upsetting. Jacy made a lot of really wild choices but almost all of them stemmed from a need for companionship; a pretty universal feeling that got her into a world of trouble.
also: this book felt like it was ramping up to some sort of supernatural point so I was a bit let down there too. what the fuck was up with the pasties
Graphic: Gun violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Body horror
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Abortion
aileron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Abortion, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Animal death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Gun violence
dfrancis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
3.5
Graphic: Medical trauma, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Animal death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Body horror
debussy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book has a bit more of a flair for horror than Abbott's previous books. Jacy is at first charmed by Doctor Ash, her husband's father. But changes lurk: her husband, Jed, starts to act more distant, less himself, more influenced in a way by his surroundings. He tells her a dark story about his father that doesn't seem to make any sense to Jacy, who sees Doctor Ash as an affable sort happy to grill and hike and show her old photos. But then the housekeeper doesn't act quite right, throwing Jacy off. When Jacy wakes up covered in blood, she's whisked away to Doctor Ash's friend's medical practice, where his friend examines Jacy and discovers she has placenta previa.
Cue the horror. From here, Jacy's body is no longer her own, but even that is a slowly tightening screw. The men huddle, determining what to do with her, while the housekeeper lurks nearby, always watching and never quite giving up what she's thinking. It starts to churn together into a story of paranoia, both medical and patriarchal. Doctor Ash and Jed just want Jacy to be safe--to think about her unborn child, to be calm and rational, to do what they say above all. Jacy wants to get the hell out, but at every turn she's threatened or scolded or had all of her means stripped away. She has no internet, no wi-fi, no reliable land line after a while. They're off in the woods, far from help. Jacy has to help herself.
This is a story of women battling back--taking revenge, taking what's theirs, owning themselves, making decisions for their own bodies when the men around them would like to be calling all the shots. It is an addictive ride, and quite a fast one when the plot starts to spin and spin, upping the tension and paranoia and slowly peeling back all of Jacy's ability to trust in other people to make the right decisions for her.
My one quibble is the housekeeper. She speaks in riddles and I was not entirely sure she needed to be so vague without explanation. There is also an extremely abrupt ending, which works for a novel that leans toward horror, and of course I can infer what happens, but I just wish these aspects of the novel had been a little cleaner.
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy