jeebi1506's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abortion, Suicide, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
poisonenvy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It tells the story of three women whose stories start at different points in history, though all their stories do intersect at certain points: There's Evelyn, a young woman in the sixties who was forced to go to a home for Wayward Girls: aka, women who became pregnant outside of marriage and were forced to give up their babies. There's Nancy, a young woman in the 1980s who becomes pregnant and needs to seek out an illegal abortion, thereby stumbling on the Jane Network: an underground network that provided safe abortions for people who needed them. And then there's Angela, a woman who's undergoing treatments to become pregnant after she and her wife had struggled with fertility. The story kicks off with her discovering a letter from a mother, telling her daughter that she'd been adopted, and confessing that she discovered afterward that her birth mother had never wanted to give her up.
But more than any of these three women, the novel tells the history of abortion rights in Canada.
And I mean that literally. Unfortunately, none of the characters are especially fleshed out. They very often become mouthpieces, and seemed more like vehicles to relay the history of reproductive rights in Canada than characters that I could really bring myself to care about.
The prose was often clunky and stilted (and was in third-person present tense, which is my least favourite of all narration styles), and sometimes veered into dangerously purple territory. And, at times, the story just felt <i>contrived</i> so that we could be sure that the characters were where they needed to be. There was a surprise twist near the end that surprised me, and <i>not</i> in a good way (the surprise wasn't a bad one, it just didn't feel like it really fit and I wondered if it didn't raise some inconsistencies, though I'm unlikely to do a reread to find out if they're really there or not).
Criticisms aside though, this story is important, and tells a very important part of Canadian history. Marshall has clearly done her research, and while the story sometimes suffers so she could expound on that history/research, it was still very informative. I have no doubt that Marshall could have written a very good non-fiction book on the subject. Clunky writing aside, it's also very easy to read and digest.
And I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone who cares to learn more about Canada's history with reproductive rights, especially if they would prefer to have that information come in the form of fiction over non-fiction.
Graphic: Abortion, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Terminal illness, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, and Infidelity
breanna_gaudaur's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Pregnancy, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Confinement
cc_shelflove's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
reading_rainbows's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Death
Moderate: Cancer
thrillofthepage's review against another edition
- 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
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
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Blood, Rape, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Abortion, Infertility, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
pauluszanna's review against another edition
- 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
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
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
- 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
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.