Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith

8 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

4.25

Okay so I picked this up having a completely wrong idea of what it was 😂🙃 Listen, I see the name Maggie Smith and do not think of a poet lol

BUT I was pleasantly surprised, largely because the author IS a poet--they write the most beautiful memoirs I swear. This one centered on the author's divorce from her husband which certainly isn't a groundbreaking topic, but she writes about it in a very unique way. Some of the poetic devices did wear on me a bit (the whole "I have a friend who says every book begins with an answerable question. Mine is..." thing got obnoxious fast). My last gripe is a personal one because I don't love hearing so much about pregnancy and kids. Those things in a book would normally warrant a much lower rating from me, but the writing really was gorgeous, and I feel like there was still a lot I took away and connected with, like about relationships and their ebs, flows, and endings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

My main criticism of this book is that Smith spends a lot of time setting boundaries with the reader about her story, specifically around her kids, yet she tells a very vulnerable story about her son at one point.

Spoiler

where he says he does not feel like has a family

Past that I think this was a great reflective work and story of both a marriage and a divorce. I will be seeking out more of Smith's work later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol

briannad4's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

caseythereader's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Pregnancy

kcarney86's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Infertility, Cursing, and Pregnancy

nrogers_1030's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely beautiful ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy and Infidelity

Minor: Toxic relationship

emmas_bookshelf's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I didn’t realize this memoir was solely going to focus on Smith’s divorce but I still enjoyed (if that’s not a bad word to use?) this memoir. As the description alludes to, Smith’s marriage falling apart is the context in which Smith also explored patriarchy, gender roles, “women’s work” and the work of parenting. It’s a great read - my only criticism is it gets a bit repetitive toward the end. If audiobooks are your jam, I listened to most of it on audio and Smith herself narrated which was wonderful since her writing is so lyrical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy and Infidelity

northernzephyr's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Infidelity