Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Odyssey by Lara Williams

10 reviews

veelaughtland's review

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Medical content, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility

froggybex's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

UGH THIS BOOK <333

it was such a weird little book. cultish, late stage capitalism (a cult in itself), unlovable/unreliable/unstable MC. incredible. 

mainly vibes over plot but still it was an amazing little book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Self harm, Violence, Classism, Medical content, Misogyny, Vomit, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infertility and Pregnancy

Minor: Abandonment

ecnolte's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

I have absolutely no idea what to say about this book other than it feels like a fever dream??? I cannot tell you a single thing that happened or what it meant. 

I can’t say it was as hard of a  “merciless takedown of late capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in” as the synopsis made it seem it would be but it definitely speaks to late capitalism. So much of the book felt like a blurred vision of our capitalist while dissociating through life. However, I do not know what to feel about the book. I wanted so much more out of it than I got. I wanted to know more about everyone and wanted a more grounded story. I genuinely cannot tell what happened this story and if anything was real or a grotesque and exaggerated imagination of the MC.

It’s not for everyone but definitely for you if you want something loosely glossy and reads like a fever dream you have while working at your shit job. 

All I can say for sure is I don’t know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Addiction, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility

thatswhatmegread's review

3.0

This was truly the most bizarre thing I’ve ever read, and I think it’s really ambiguous. The inside cover says this is a “merciless takedown of late capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in.” I can see that, but I also had this feeling of none of it actually happening, and it just showing what this V troubled woman thought was happening. I don’t know.

A lot of this read as ICK to me, and for some reason I kept thinking of A Requiem for a Dream (yikes). It just gave me the same feeling of unease. I wouldn’t say I liked this book, but I was definitely invested, and I keep thinking about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical content, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit and Infertility

breekeeler's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

There was so much potential here, but for me it just didn’t quite come together. To be fair, I adored Supper Club so much that my expectations were incredibly high, so that my be playing into it.

There were parts of this I really loved, especially the second half of the novel when things started to get really unsettling. 

For me the characters were never fully developed enough for me to really engage with them though, and I found that the Land portions actually undercut the eeriness of the Sea portions for me and in doing so really made this an ineffectual commentary on capitalism even through that’s why it was pitched as.

So overall enjoyable, just didn’t live up to my personal expectations or the expectations set by the book’s marketing materials.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Alcoholism

Moderate: Medical content and Infertility

lizzie_r's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Body horror, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infertility, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Alcoholism, Body horror, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Gore

stayathomereader's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This is a hard one to discuss. I started it expecting a light, women's contemporary fiction style twist on a Greek classic, but I quickly realized the writing and character was definitely more in the vein of dark literary fiction. I felt like this book was a combination if My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and The Circle by Dave Eggers. The ending lost me, both in terms of interest and understanding (the same way Megan Hunt's 'The Harpy' did). I see a lot of reviews mention satire, but I don't think that element came across well for me. I feel like it is a book featuring a spiraling, unreliable, unlikable female narrator and books like this are very hit or miss for me. This was a miss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Minor: Infertility

campbelltoner's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Infertility and Infidelity

kateflood's review

4.5

 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 

This book was eerie and uncomfortable and dream-like and I think I loved it. We follow the unreliable narration of Ingrid, who has been aboard the WA cruise ship for 5 years, through the mundanities and horrors of her life on board, and the impacts of the mysterious new program she undertakes led by the ship’s captain. I thought this was a great critique of modern capitalism and it left me feeling nihilistic but not necessarily in a bad way. A lot of the questions this book leaves you with remain unanswered at the end which I can definitely imagine some people would find frustrating, but personally I didn’t mind this as it seemed quite fitting for such a surreal story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility