Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

23 reviews

krissipie1's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Child death, Death, Genocide, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Abortion, and Alcohol

scholastic_squid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

*I’m on a rollercoaster of emotions*

The beginning was rough for me as I typically avoid this type of genre. I would rather read historical texts about events however, I was soon engulfed in the turmoil and lives of all the characters needing to know how their lives panned out. 
I audiobook’d this while working to keep me rolling but by the time I was half way through it couldn’t go fast enough because ALL the tea started spilling. 🫖 💥 
Having added this to my Decolonize Your Bookshelf prompt for a “South American author who wrote historical fiction” did not disappoint which is honestly what I was dreading. The political turmoil and straight facts spilling out in Chapter 10 however, had me gasping because it’s so similar to what is going on in the US right now. It’s a blessing and curse having majored in history / law and then peeking into other cultures politics like this.. because you know what could happen and the % of probability. 
I do hope to find more on the Spanish civil war and history of the Chilean people.. 💕 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Deportation

my_weird_bookish_heart's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

jinmichae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? No

3.75

This one didn't pull me in nearly as much as the others I've read by the author. It feels more like a biography than something with an overarching plot.

It mostly explores the full lives and loves of the main two characters and how they were affected by the Spanish Civil War, what was done in Chile on September 11, 1973, and other instances closer to their family. I enjoyed it--the writing was beautiful as always, the subject interesting and giving voice to parts of history I haven't encountered before--but because it was many narratives coming together, it didn't have as much focus as I prefer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism

augie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation

rayofhope's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

 My mom is from Spain, but I never knew much about the Spanish Civil War. Reading this book, I found myself imagining my family and wondering what they must've gone through during this battle, and Franco's reign. None of them were exiled, like the people in this book, but the pain of having your country ripped apart felt so personal and real to me. 
I was fascinated by the story of these characters, the loves found and lost, the tragedy, the joy. It really brought to life this period of history in Spain and Chile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Violence, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Infidelity

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

4.0

This book waddles along the line between fiction and non-fiction. The pacing and gravity of events take on a distinctly non-fiction feel to them while the story is fiction though based on lives of actual people. As such I had a difficult time feeling engaged while reading.
This book still serves as an interesting view into what the Spanish Civil War was like even if it just felt like an excerpt in a history textbook for the majority of the time. 
Edoardo Ballerini does an excellent job narrating the work and at no point did his reading voice detract from the experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Child death, and Gun violence

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This gets an extra star exclusively for the fact that the man whose life this book was based on died 6 days before Allende could give him the final manuscript and tell him she dedicated it to him. The main plot of this book is the long and painful lives of Victor and Roser. The background of their lives includes the Spanish Civil war and political unrest in Chile. Unfortunately this book is boring. Because it never settles on a time period and elaborates on feelings and growth of the main characters, this story falls flat for me. The characters are flawed (as most people are) but, they spend almost no time ruminating or atoning for things like cheating or lying. I just couldn't bring myself to care about anyone or anything in this book. Allende is a beautiful writer I just think this is a boring story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

grereads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I had to read this book for spanish class, as we were learning about the Spanish Civil War as well as the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina, making a wider discourse on the importance of historical memory. I had about a month to read this, but as a master procrastinator I ended up reading this on the last 2 days before the writing test about it. This definitely negatively affected my reading experience, as I couldn't fully appreciate the writing or sympathise with the characters because I was in a rush, and I ended up not liking this as much as the other Allende books I've read.
That being said, I really appreciate Allende's creativity, she comes up with really interesting and entertaining stories. The fact she managed to unite important parts of both of Spanish and of Latin American history was very cool. Also, Roser is a fantastic female character.
The ending kind of sucked in all honesty, and the book could have been shorter, but it's not a bad novel overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation

Moderate: Child death, Dementia, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Torture, Antisemitism, and Abortion