Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Yo que nunca supe de los hombres by Jacqueline Harpman

3 reviews

caroisreading's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I started this book without reading any spoilers, or even the introduction. I wouldn't even know this was science fiction -- it could be any time period, agnostic of technology other than electricity.

I read this in half a day. I give so much credit to the translator for giving this such an authentic read. Of course all the credit is to Jacqueline Harpman for this beautiful, morose, bare, unique story. 

It is a timely, sobering read as we witness human atrocities today.

This is a story on an undefined war, humanity, and women surviving. It contemplates the meaning of life. It is plain in how it describes each step of survival, and we see through the eyes of a protagonist who is like a blank page - void of our version of the human experience. I rooted for her, and mourned for her. 

You'll love this if you like thought-provoking reads, darker stories about humanity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, War, Death, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cancer, and Infertility

jkull_10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, and Torture

peggy_racham's review against another edition

5.0

"I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering and that I was human after all."

I rarely read bleak dystopias but this one got me. Something about a woman wondering about her own humanity just speaks to me. There are no answers but it doesnt really matter in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Grief, Confinement, Infertility, Medical content, and Cancer