Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

13 reviews

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Dementia, Trafficking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

planetshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

I don’t know whether it’s just because of who I am, but I don’t think this is very romantic. It is very centered around thoughts of sex and overly anatomical descriptions of bodies (boobs’ descriptions were weird and often related to acidic fruits and penises sounded repulsive), but doesn’t feel at all like other books I’ve read that are categorized as romances.

The way Jacob — 90 (or 93) — is written is wonderful. I don’t know exactly what elders think, but I grew up with grandparents as my guardians and I feel an oddly sentimental connection with the more utilitarian thoughts that were written.

I feel this may be worth mentioning: the author uses non-colloquial vocabulary when referring to a body. If that might be uncomfortable for you, you probably should let this one go.

Nonetheless, I liked it and thought it was a fun journey to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

cammiem8's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book more. I love books about old timey cheating, but the love story just didn’t quite grip me. The plot had enough turns to keep me engaged and I did listen through it very quickly. I also didn’t care much for the parts of the book set much later with the old man, I didn’t think the framing device added much of value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Animal abuse is constant in the book, but it is very clearly condemned by the protagonist