Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

84 reviews

arjee's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I thought the midwife was going to be a Mad Max-style protagonist, barreling around the country putting bullets in rapists and giving scavenged birth control to every woman she met. She is not. For the most part, it's a quiet story about how scary and lonely the apocalypse is. It was fine.

Then about two-thirds of the way into the book, she meets a pregnant woman, Jodi. They live together while waiting for the birth. Jodi is sooo stupid and boring and annoying, but also sexy and the midwife constantly thinks about how much she wants to fuck her. Then Jodi's husband, Honus, shows up, and the midwife can't stop thinking about how much she wants to fuck him. He is at least interesting and doesn't talk about TV all the time like his stupid annoying wife. The midwife and Honus talk about sex constantly whenever Jodi isn't around, and start fucking for real after Jodi gives birth to a dead child.

For all of that to be in what was promised to be a feminist, woman-centered narrative is disgusting.

The structure of this book is confusing. It's organized into the midwife's diary entries and chunks of narration from the midwife's POV. Occasionally she gets a companion to write down their story, or we hear from companions that she's left behind. Then, two-thirds into the book, Elison starts mentioning things that are happening in different countries! If Elison wanted to show a broader view of the apocalypse, starting so far into the book is a baffling choice. The midwife delivers a stillborn, and the author tells me that three women in Ukraine kill their captors at the same time. As a reader, I am not elated by the Ukrainian women's victory or saddened by the midwife's loss. I'm pulled out of the moment to glare at the author, thinking "Why are you telling me this? What relevance does this have to the midwife's journey?"

I wish I hadn't wasted two days on this book. Disappointing, misogynistic, and not well written enough to make up for either of those.

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thelightsarenorthern's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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spicylimewater's review

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emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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ugoglen's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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annaka's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

I read this book quickly. I borrowed it from KU as an audiobook, but found myself reading it when it was inconvenient to keep listening. Elison knows how to create tension and hook a reader. I found it interesting to see how the world rebuilt after such a tragedy and think I would have enjoyed the book even more if more time had been spent on the rebuilding (versus the surviving much of it does focus on).

I struggled with the book because of the negative perception of what humanity (particularly mankind) would turn into in this apocalyptic perception. I'm not saying it's inaccurate, but I would hope we'd do better. There was a bit of a heavy focus on sex at times, which wasn't particularly for me. Probably one of the more depressing dystopian books I've read but even so, I found it hard to put down. I enjoyed the read but I'm not sure I will pick up the follow ups in the series due to how dark the book is. I do applaud Elison's choice to have this book stand-alone and not ending on a cliffhanger. After I have some time and a palate cleanser read (or two), perhaps I will look into reading some of the others in the series. I'd be open to reading other books by this author, just maybe not ones as dark.

Would you read the next one in the series? Possibly, more likely if less dark.
Would you read something else by the author? Yes (see above)
Would you re-read this? Probably not, it was a bit too dark for me to truly enjoy it.

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