Reviews with content warning for Abortion - The Inland Sea

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts

12 reviews

carlytenille's review

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challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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coralcrab77's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

There were some minor editing issues that I noticed.
But for a debut novel, I thought it was beautiful and well-written. I saw parts of myself in the narrator.
I have recently found that I love character-driven stream-of-consciousness writing, but I know it's not for everyone.

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bethsbookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

"But our lives contain no line breaks. Our experiences are so frequently unbearable to us because real life is just sheer bloody continuity... The excruciating thing is that time carries on and you love them anyway."

This book. THIS BOOK. Wow. I don't even want to write an in-depth review because there are so many wonderful reviews on this book already. People have written them much better than I ever could.

This book is basically about climate change, but it's woven into how the main character responds to her circumstances (which are awful). I loved how she compared love to healing the planet, and how the fires and the phone calls and the ringing - contrast ringing - became a metaphor for her trauma and vice versa.

Overall, if you want to read a literary fiction medium/fast-paced novel about a new adult who is anxious about climate change and relationships and her trauma, then this is the book for you.

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jackelz's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character

There is a lot of unpack here. I checked this one out from the library to satisfy a ‘climate change’ prompt, but this book is so much more than that.

I found the writing style very unique. The narrator is never named, and most of the people she interacted with had fictional names. There are tidbits about John Oxley (her ancestor), and his exploration of the Lachlan river to find an Inland Sea, randomly throughout the book.

The protagonist indulges in blackout drinking, unprotected sex, and hazardous hook ups with an ex. She works at Australia’s Triple Zero dispatch center answering phones, “Emergency police, fire, or ambulance.” I felt the helplessness she felt when she couldn’t connect the caller fast enough. We come to learn her thoughts and fears surrounding climate change, which are parallel to her habits of self destruction.

This book made me uncomfortable at times, but it will be one that sticks with me for a long time.

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rachelyvonnee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

I really liked Madeleine Watts' writing style, the way that at times the main characters behaviours/feelings are effected/shown by climate change. However I was really confused as to why the great great great great explorer grandfather just dipped in and out in (seemingly) random places not really added much to what was happening at that point. From the blurb it seemed like he was going to have a much bigger part to play - maybe I'm missing something?

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annabunce's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Thoughtful read and did an excellent job of illustrating the impact of compounding stress and trauma and bringing in a thoughtful contemplation of climate change.

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