Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Procurando Jane by Heather Marshall

17 reviews

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape and Grief

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. This is me teaching myself how to breathe again, because I almost forgot. I am simply astounded by what I just read. Looking for Jane is written in a way that makes the reader feel like he or she is a part of something big. Furthermore, to write about true events without conveying the facts like you are writing a research paper is a real skill, and Heather Marshall has mastered it. Inspired by true stories, we follow our main characters through three separate timelines: 1971, 1980, and 2017. There is a ton of foreshadowing in this book, and I STILL did not guess the big giant whopping colossal enormous supercalifragilisticexpialidocious twist at the end. Talk about tears! As mentioned in the author's note, this book is about abortion and the right to choose, but it is also about so much more. I think there is room for a sequel, because something Sister Agatha said to Nancy was not addressed or revisited. I would love to read more. I'm going to go hug my mom now. Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Medical content, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infertility, Confinement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Blood

kawooreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Abortion

Minor: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Rape, Death of parent, and Death

thrillofthepage's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Racism, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Cursing, Gun violence, Infertility, Abandonment, Child death, and Miscarriage

cailinfitzgerald's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Blood, Rape, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Abortion, Infertility, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

chailady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Omg! This debut novel absolutely pulled me into the story. I’m not overly fond of duel timelines, and this one has three! Plus three major characters whose stories are so well interwoven that the three timelines didn’t affect my ability to enjoy(?) reading the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abortion

Moderate: Gaslighting and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt

pauluszanna's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

 Brilliant storytelling and captivating characters - I loved this book so much.

It was extremely emotional (cried before I reach 100 pages), hopeful and extremely relevant. I hope you all put it on your TBR because it was a beautiful book about womanhood and motherhood.

Every child a wanted child, every mother a willing mother 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, Murder, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Suicide

Moderate: Infertility, Grief, and Medical content

arnold_shelby's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Abandonment

Moderate: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicide, Cancer, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Child death, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

I thought some parts of the book had unnecessary exposition, where it felt like one of the story lines was being used to feed specific aspects of history to the reader, however that was short-lived thankfully. I enjoyed this book, it was raw and a rough read at times but I was glad to have read it.

desana75's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Insanely good. Changed me as a person.  Expression of women’s reproductive lives in all their facets and perspectives.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Confinement, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, and Rape

Minor: Chronic illness

maddiet425's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.5

Loved this book! It was easy to get through which is the most important thing to me. I also loved the subject matter, and the complexity with which it was discussed. I do have multiple small problems with this book though. The multiple POV’s were confusing at times, and Angela’s story didn’t seem to fit in. I also didn’t love how preachy it felt at times, but my biggest problem was the ending. It made no sense to me,

Spoiler

who is the Evelyn we read about at the beginning of the story? Is it the really Evelyn or is it the fake Evelyn? If the real Evelyn is telling her story throughout the St. Agnes chapters (which makes sense due to the yellow booties, etc.) then why does the fake evelyn mention at the end of the story that she wanted to give the baby to her brother?? That was something the real Evelyn wanted! It seems the author was as confused as the reader when writing this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Death, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Confinement, Suicide, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Infertility, Death of parent, Vomit, Child death, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Rape, and Grief