Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner

15 reviews

jroy13's review

challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

sandrahunt90's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Antisemitism, and War

Minor: Car accident

raebyday's review

emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Rape, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

sabra327's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War

jeehernandez87's review

informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so hard to read at times due to the ugly history of eugenics. Most have heard about the horrors that occurred during the time of WWII, but rarely do you hear of the absolutely evil acts that were being committed in the USA before, during and after that time. The goal of mutilation and murder in many ways mirrored the acts that Hitler and his regime carried out in what most Americans consider “so far away”. It was happening here, in the United States. I found the number of years it continued to happen to be shocking to say the least. 

My heart broke so many times, and I was on the verge of tears throughout so much of this book. Rarely do I feel this emotional when reading, but this one literally gave me all the feels. I don’t want to share spoilers, but near the end there was a moment that gave me goosebumps, and then immediately my heart sank just a bit as I empathized with the character and what this meant for their future. This happened many times throughout the book, and those that read this, will understand. I rarely give five stars but this certainly deserves it. 

On a final note, I think everyone should take the time to learn a bit about this time period, and what was happening in the USA. This was very eye opening for me, especially after reading through the author’s notes at the end. There are books that change you, your perception of history and what you think possible. This book will stay with me long after I finished reading it’s pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Genocide, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

mombond's review

challenging emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Beautifully written and completely heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

lgmelcher's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Wow. There are some tough themes in this book (google for content warnings) but if you like reading stories of perseverance and characters who take action to try and right wrongs and stem the tide of atrocities, this book may be for you. Meissner is an auto-read author for me -- I appreciate the depth of her research and her treatment of challenging historical topics through complex characters and storylines. This one is well done on audio, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: War

kerrygetsliterary's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

shawnna_reads2's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War