Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

31 reviews

nataliecoyne's review against another edition

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

Words cannot express how much I loved this book. It is such an easy 5 stars and I now really admire Marjan Kamali's writing. I loved her other book that I read, <i>The Lion Women of Tehran</i>, but it's entirely possible that I loved this one even more. The story is so beautiful, albeit tragic at times. And it felt very <i>real.</i> It didn't feel like I was watching some cheesy romance movie.

At first, I didn't really understand the decision to include a romance between Ali and [name I'm not including to avoid spoilers], when I read the chapter with introducing that romance at the beginning of part 2 I was like "okay, this is random??" But, by the end, it made a lot of sense.

I absolutely would recommend this to others. Easy 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and War

muazah_ok's review against another edition

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: Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

qirhh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

It’ll leave you feeling bittersweet yet content. You’ll understand that what’s not meant to be has already been written in our fate, and what’s meant to be will always find its way to us. 

I love this book so very much. It will be on my mind for a while. I will look up the history of Iran and its people. I will think of Roya and Bahman and the people alike when I search it up. I will be reminded of not just the Iran-Iraq war, but the past world wars and the current ones. It will remind me of why I like to pick historical books though they are mostly of tragic stories yet there is always a lesson to learn from them. 

This book will be in my heart forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War

brayj_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This one is a quiet cozy, but melancholy and tear jerking story of love, loss, and.. ok more loss.

Teens meet in Tehran, are separated, and come back together in the end of lives that are rivers of joy and sadness.

I liked the story, but it's more evocative than plot-filled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

taliabasma's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Idk the book was good but bad lol. The writing was poignant and I don’t love time jumps but this one was very well done. (

But we really did not at all need Claire’s pov

)

The best way to describe this is, the fault in our stars was sad on purpose while a walk to remember was a story with sadness. And idk this book felt like it was sad on purpose. 

We don’t really get to know Bahman nor Roya’s full personality. They just had a young love but there wasn’t much depth to their characters nor their relationship outside of the missed factor. 

I also think this book is actually about Bahman’s mom and her life more than anyone else to be honest and it could be a good thing if they gave her character a LITTLE bit more depth. 

If you hate miscommunication this is basically a back and forth novel with a purposeful and manipulative miscommunication.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, and War

hmwoodward's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

This beautifully written and beautifully read book (listened to the audiobook on this one) follows two young people who fell hopelessly in love

and lost each other along the way

in Iran amidst political instability in the 1950s. You primarily follow the story through the eyes of the female main character, Roya, via 3rd person. She's a smart girl who loves books, learning about American culture, and who is on the fringe of politics thanks to her father and her love interest. You get to watch her and her family grow from her teen years through her senior years, seeing how her past follows her, no matter how far away from it she really is. 

I read this one per a bookstagramer recommendation, even though historical fiction is not my jam - especially after how long and sad the last one I read was. But, the book was great and I would definitely recommend it - just keep the content warnings in mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

erinkellyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

 Easily, this is in the running for best book of the year for me, if not best book of the last few years. The writing is stunning, the characters are complicated and nuanced, and the story is heartfelt and heartbreaking. If this isn't on your TBR, it should be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

saychall's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War