Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

27 reviews

passionyoungwrites's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this story a lot but the ending fell flat for me. I would have liked to know where Hallow’s life looked like after leaving her adoptive home. 

The family connections in this story and the tradition of the caul business were very detailed. But, the depths in which people would go for power, money, and even acceptance was sometimes hard to see on page. 

Amara subjected her own child to a business she despised, without knowing. And that was the saddest part. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Abandonment

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Drug use, Child death, Cursing, Death, Pregnancy, and Suicide

asiamh's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

Moderate: Body horror, Police brutality, Torture, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

morybaby's review against another edition

2.25

The narrator, Joniece Abbott-Pratt is the reason I finished this book. She’s so talent. The story wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A book about a family with a special gift and how they choose to use it, Caul Baby is dripping in symbolism and social commentary. 

This book was well-written and interesting. I don’t know if the metaphors were heavy handed or they just really spoke to me, but either way I was ok with it. I love some magical realism, and this book did it quite well. I appreciated the way that the author managed to convey the abuse and almost Stockholm syndrome way the women in the Melancon family made decisions. I was drawn in by the characters and quite enjoyed the story overall.

The one thing I will say is that I understand that Harlem is a character in the story, but I found it a little much to always be given exact street locations of places. For people in Harlem, that’s probably cool, but for me, it just felt tiring to constantly be given exact streets.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Miscarriage

Moderate: Child abuse

nordstina's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Morgan Jerkins has written a fascinating tale in Caul Baby. I fully admit I had to look up what caul meant. In this tale, the Melancons are a well-known, old family in Harlem known for being born with an extra skin (a caul), which they are able to sell off in pieces to individuals willing to pay top dollar for health miracles. Their ties to the community are strained when they appear to not be helping many of their own, instead getting top dollar from wealthy white patrons needing their caul. Overlaying this family is another- we are first introduced to Laila, a woman who desperately wants a child after miscarriage after miscarriage. When she strikes a deal with the Melancons, which falls through, Laila is unable to deal with the resulting stillbirth. Just as this tragedy strikes, her niece Amara, an ambitious college student finds herself pregnant, and ultimately gives up her child, who is taken in by the Melancons, as her daughter was also born with a Caul. The book jumps ahead in time when Amara is a successful lawyer with an eye to a higher office, all while harboring a vendetta against what the Melancons did to her aunt Laila. 

There are a lot of overlapping agendas in this book, and Jerkins writes in a way that has the readers both sympathize with and be aghast with their choices. It's an inventive tale, with themes of gentrification, loss, love, and greed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

sammish's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

fatoodles's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage

sierranichole's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

     I think it could have been written a bit better. Most of the characters could have been developed better, and the novel is too slow paced for me. Amara was written so excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical content, Abandonment, Infertility, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Violence, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism

Minor: Child death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Genocide