Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall

9 reviews

tinkeringcheck's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.25

Read for a book club, and I while the prose is well-written and the story obviously resonates with many readers it just wasn't for me. Personally I found it quite heavy without much reprieve (mind the content warnings, they're graphic) and I didn't really feel like the main character voices were distinguishable from each other despite some strong side characters. Even when I started to get sucked in, a few last minute twists and left-field character beats shook me out of the story again. I'm looking at you, future Nancy storyline.

I also feel bad saying this, but I'm not a big fan of books that feel like they were written mainly to Educate the Reader instead of tell a story. I might have bounced off because I know too much about the abortion rights movement in Canada already, but I'm glad this book is making that history more accessible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

modryzamek's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

asimonso's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

While a work of fiction, the historical foundation was strong and provided insights and POVs I never considered before or had the knowledge of. The authors ability to connect to the readers was engaging and thought provoking. I also appreciate the authors ending notes and nod to minorities and their experiences as well as calls to action and resources.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

shae_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Miscarriage, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs

mdavis26's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

poisonenvy's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Looking for Jane is Heather Marshall's first novel, and in many ways, it shows. 

It tells the story of three women whose stories start at different points in history, though all their stories do intersect at certain points: There's Evelyn, a young woman in the sixties who was forced to go to a home for Wayward Girls: aka, women who became pregnant outside of marriage and were forced to give up their babies. There's Nancy, a young woman in the 1980s who becomes pregnant and needs to seek out an illegal abortion, thereby stumbling on the Jane Network: an underground network that provided safe abortions for people who needed them.  And then there's Angela, a woman who's undergoing treatments to become pregnant after she and her wife had struggled with fertility.  The story kicks off with her discovering a letter from a mother, telling her daughter that she'd been adopted, and confessing that she discovered afterward that her birth mother had never wanted to give her up. 

But more than any of these three women, the novel tells the history of abortion rights in Canada. 

And I mean that literally. Unfortunately, none of the characters are especially fleshed out. They very often become mouthpieces, and seemed more like vehicles to relay the history of reproductive rights in Canada than characters that I could really bring myself to care about. 

The prose was often clunky and stilted (and was in third-person present tense, which is my least favourite of all narration styles), and sometimes veered into dangerously purple territory.  And, at times, the story just felt <i>contrived</i> so that we could be sure that the characters were where they needed to be.  There was a surprise twist near the end that surprised me, and <i>not</i> in a good way (the surprise wasn't a bad one, it just didn't feel like it really fit and I wondered if it didn't raise some inconsistencies, though I'm unlikely to do a reread to find out if they're really there or not).

Criticisms aside though, this story is important, and tells a very important part of Canadian history. Marshall has clearly done her research, and while the story sometimes suffers so she could expound on that history/research, it was still very informative. I have no doubt that Marshall could have written a very good non-fiction book on the subject. Clunky writing aside, it's also very easy to read and digest.


And I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone who cares to learn more about Canada's history with reproductive rights, especially if they would prefer to have that information come in the form of fiction over non-fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity, Dementia, and Death of parent

chailady's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Omg! This debut novel absolutely pulled me into the story. I’m not overly fond of duel timelines, and this one has three! Plus three major characters whose stories are so well interwoven that the three timelines didn’t affect my ability to enjoy(?) reading the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Abortion

Moderate: Grief and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

arnold_shelby's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Abortion and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Fatphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Medical content, and Kidnapping

I thought some parts of the book had unnecessary exposition, where it felt like one of the story lines was being used to feed specific aspects of history to the reader, however that was short-lived thankfully. I enjoyed this book, it was raw and a rough read at times but I was glad to have read it.

onestephatatime's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment