atgerstner's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This book is a weird read post Dobbs. It’s also a little too purple, and the Wife plot line didn’t add a ton to the story.
isabellevictoria's review
4.0
This is the kind of book that takes a second to get into, but then you find yourself too invested in the characters. A terrifyingly, too-close-to-home dystopian novel about four women with whom you will related in many different ways.
mariahhanley's review against another edition
2.0
I felt like this book is trying too hard to be something it isn’t- and shouldn’t be. It’s trying to be literary, and I felt like that took away from the storyline(s).
mpchiz's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
whimsicallymeghan's review against another edition
3.0
This novel follows four women, in a small town, each with their own struggle that centers around the reproductive rights of women. Ro is a forty-three-year-old, single, woman who is trying desperately to get pregnant. Susan is a stay at home mom to two children, living in a marriage that never should have started. Mattie is an adopted daughter, who now finds herself pregnant and nowhere to turn. And Gin, an older woman who’s known for her ‘home remedies’. Slowly each of these women’s story start to interweave as they face similar and different struggles. This was a very politically charged novel about the reproductive rights of women. Each woman in this book had some form of conflict relating to that topic and the reader could see where the author was trying to go with this, but sometimes it didn’t always work out that way. First off, the confusion of not knowing the characters’ names was jarring and confusing. The reader couldn’t understand why the author felt the need to keep their names hidden. The only time a character was addressed by their name was in someone else’s point of view, it was really strange and made it very disjointed to read about. The other thing was that Zumas made her characters really strong in the sense that they were so strong in their own beliefs that they couldn’t see another side to the story. They did mellow out by the end a bit, but they came off as very drastic to start. Also, none of the men in this ever came off as good; there was not one single good guy in this, which kind of made this read as a women hate men read and that’s also off-putting. Any time the reader had to read from the wife’s perspective, Susan, they cringed at how bad the husband was. The reader got the point the author was trying to make, but the reader wishes there was a way to go about it without going to the extreme and hitting us over the head with it. This was very fast-paced, which the reader liked, but it was so fast-paced that this just ended without them realizing it. They got to the last page, not realizing it was over. The reader felt that three of the four characters got a justified ending. One character, which is also where the book ended, just felt like she gave up; after a whole novel of her fighting for the thing she wanted, this novel ended and she all of a sudden didn’t want it anymore, felt off and out of character. In the end, this had good concepts, they just weren’t executed the best, especially in a world where it’s a reality and not a dystopian place where Roe vs. Wade has been overturned.
naomimetz96's review against another edition
4.0
This book was amazing. It was unnerving to read about rights being taken away from these women and have it feel eerily similar to things happening in the country right now. My only issue is that it felt a little too long in some parts and that took away from the story a bit. Overall I would 100% recommend.
kategolledge's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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? No
3.75
strdust's review against another edition
2.0
either you really like this book or you hate it.
I was having a hard time finishing this because I just cant happen to find a strong enough red line that connects the story of each main character in this book. in the end they have their own endings and that doesnt really "completes the story" somehow. I do appreciate the main concept and theme of this book but some part of it just feels too easy to solve, therefore it feels unrealistic.
the writing style is definitely unique and fascinating, but it confuses me that in one chapter the author refers the character as their reference name (such as the biographer and the mender) but in the other chapter as their real name. I find that unnecessary and a bit "too much", though this might be just my personal preference after all.
I was having a hard time finishing this because I just cant happen to find a strong enough red line that connects the story of each main character in this book. in the end they have their own endings and that doesnt really "completes the story" somehow. I do appreciate the main concept and theme of this book but some part of it just feels too easy to solve, therefore it feels unrealistic.
the writing style is definitely unique and fascinating, but it confuses me that in one chapter the author refers the character as their reference name (such as the biographer and the mender) but in the other chapter as their real name. I find that unnecessary and a bit "too much", though this might be just my personal preference after all.
tcarg's review against another edition
5.0
I bought this a year ago and am annoyed that it’s place in my stack aligned so closely with the actual real-life overturning of Roe. Terribly relevant and so very good.