Reviews tagging Pregnancy

This Is How It Always Is, by Laurie Frankel

5 reviews

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.5

I mostly liked this and thought it was well-done. There were some things I didn't like (like

Spoiler

changing Poppy's pronouns and name back at the drop of a hat without her even explicitly saying that

) but I like that at least it ended on a more nuanced note. A bunch of the reviews for this book were disappointing though, and I wish it were made more clear by the book that supporting your kid in being trans from a young age isn't the wrong move. Anyway. Overall I liked it, it was nice, it was well-written. Just not perfect. 

Oh also, if you're trans, a very specific part of this is really hard to read. Look at the spoiler in my content warnings for more detail. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Bullying, Homophobia, Hate crime, Outing, and Medical content

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy, Drug use, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, and Death of parent

Spoiler

A trans woman is murdered on page for being trans and it's just awful

otterspond's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Homophobia

sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I'm not trans or nonbinary, but I'm pan. I really identified with the constriction of the binary when reading this and considering the protagonist. I appreciated the realness the book provided with so many what ifs and anxiety as well as the happy moments. Also, the book was funny! It balanced the sobering and plain sad/angry moments with some very funny ones! 

One thing I struggled with was the name of the protagonist. It bothered me that once the dead name was shirked by the protagonist, other characters would consistently dead name them. To be fair, it was shown in a very real way, mainly used by parents of the protagonist who were learning, but still. Same with the use of particular pronouns. There was a lot of floundering with them which seemed annoying to me because the protagonist claims their name and pronouns at a very particular point in the story and the name and pronouns are not used consistently even after they expressly asked for them. 

Eventually it all worked our as the protagonist identified with both male and female pronouns, but I was annoyed that when they asked for she/her pronouns, it was often met with "he, well now, she". 

Otherwise I truly did enjoy the book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Sexual content, Transphobia, Hate crime, Medical content, Outing, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Excrement, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence

thevietvegan's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Outing, Grief, Death, and Child death

toorsdenote's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Murder, and Transphobia

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, and Medical content

Minor: Abortion, Blood, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and War