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carojust's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Each chapter is dedicated to the POV of a different woman, all deeply affected by "the plague." By the middle, I was getting frustrated with figuring out who was who; everyone is written with the same personality and inner voice. To the author's credit, at least this format helped illustrate different motivations, tragedy and marriages. The character I appreciated the most was Helen, the only story that depicted a more realistic, pessimistic outcome of a scared, selfish husband leaving his family for freedom.
For the most part, the author was creative and thorough in imagining the aftermath of women-led nations, and the race to find a vaccine. It's heavily inspired by wartime, Rosie the Rivetor-era solutions. The problem of reproduction is an obvious focus, but executed kind of flippantly. I think more could have been explored about crime and sexism, societal infrastructures being more upturned than depicted in this book.
You'll like this if you're into dystopian-ish stories, lots of characters, explorations on grief and recovery.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
mionnechan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, and Medical trauma
brynalexa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation
cogowno's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
clare_tmumford's review against another edition
Graphic: Medical content and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
The concept of this book seemed really interesting. I just couldn’t get through the horrifying details I’m afraidliesthemoontells's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I was also disappointed at how straight the book was - the one lesbian character who doesn't enter into a relationship with a woman out of necessity is an arrogant sociopath, and the stories of women who fall in love with women after most men have died out are kept at a distance from the reader through news articles and interviews. None of our first person characters enter into a WLW relationship other than the aforementioned sociopath.
It also isn't until 354 pages into a 403 page book that the author spends a moment considering what traumatic impact the Plague would have had on the trans community, treating them like the afterthought that the sole trans character in the book ironically calls out the medical establishment for doing.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
cady_sass's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
amandarin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
leannanecdote'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? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, and Classism
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt
cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
It's pitched as a feminist dystopia, but only mentions women taking over positions of power in the briefest asides. The real focus is the fallout of losing half the population. All of the recovery is focused on repopulation: protecting surviving men, birthing healthy boys, rationing sperm. Despite the female POVs, all the attention is once more on the men. Counterintuitively, it felt like the story coddled men while women buckled down to helm survival.
The most cohesive and developed theme was not women in positions of power, but fertility.
The specific careers (genetics, anthropology, government intelligence) spread the content of the novel too thin. With such intricate professions, there wasn't enough research to provide more than a superficial involvement in the novel's entire premise.
The identity diversity also felt like a hamfisted afterthought rather than a significant facet of the characters that would affect their approach to events. I appreciated the acknowledgement of the trans experience, but it felt extremely shoehorned, and again, not explored in any meaningful way. Sexuality and racial diversity wasn't handled any better, and there was nearly no class diversity.
The writing style was exceedinly readable, and the narrative was generally engaging. But ultimately, I sat down for a dissection of gender in the modern world, and instead got an exceedingly heteronormative narrative that in no way challenged the status quo, skirted gender essentialism, and was also kinda depressing.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Abandonment
Minor: Cancer, Misogyny, Suicide, Transphobia, Alcohol, and War
the transphobia I mention isn't just that inherent in the premise; a trans character mentions how much more difficult life has been for trans people after "the plague," including an increase in general transphobia and transphobic violence