Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

5 reviews

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

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

The Details:
Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Unabridged

I think I would have loved this more if I physically read it, because I've been enjoying generational stories following a matriarchal set up recently, however I couldn't follow along strongly to the threads of who connected to who and place the character I knew as a child to the adult in the second half. 

Despite this, I could easily tell that this was a powerful novel. There was so many interesting and strong characters and I enjoyed seeing the two sides of why Melancons sold pieces of their caul in comparison to those they wouldn't sell to or who didn't agree with it. It got even more deep when Hallow was brought into the mixture.

The content surrounding caul babies was unique to me as I hadn't known much about these births before, and recognised it under the term "mermaid births", so it was cool to explore the mythos around this.

The conclusion was fantastic and I felt really satisfied with it.

This was a dark, deep generational story, that felt a little magical, but with a heavy hand of corruption, that was executed beautifully and I think I would benefit from going over a physical copy at a later stage to piece together some of the connections I lost track of via audio.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Abandonment

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

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

Having liked Jerkins’ previous book, Wandering In Strange Lands, I was excited to try her fictional debut and it did not disappoint! In Caul Baby, she presents us with a blend of motherhood and magic which is completely compelling. I loved that we had perspectives from a big cast of characters (although all narrated by just one narrator - who is good though!), reflecting on topics like gentrification, Black bodies being exploited by white people in medicine, and of course race and class.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy