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greendog1200's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Abortion, Medical content, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infertility, Death of parent, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Infidelity and Rape
jaklindberg's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage, Abortion, Confinement, Infertility, Pregnancy, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
raisavibes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Abandonment, Murder, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Grief, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Abandonment
Includes a great cause that you could help with!torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Self harm, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Dementia, Vomit, Abortion, Infertility, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Infidelity, Incest, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, and Child death
ck529's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Abortion and Suicide
Minor: Misogyny
athenabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abortion, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Suicide
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Blood, Self harm, Cancer, and Child death
kyuuka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
mdavis26's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Misogyny, Suicide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Abortion, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
poisonenvy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It tells the story of three women whose stories start at different points in history, though all their stories do intersect at certain points: There's Evelyn, a young woman in the sixties who was forced to go to a home for Wayward Girls: aka, women who became pregnant outside of marriage and were forced to give up their babies. There's Nancy, a young woman in the 1980s who becomes pregnant and needs to seek out an illegal abortion, thereby stumbling on the Jane Network: an underground network that provided safe abortions for people who needed them. And then there's Angela, a woman who's undergoing treatments to become pregnant after she and her wife had struggled with fertility. The story kicks off with her discovering a letter from a mother, telling her daughter that she'd been adopted, and confessing that she discovered afterward that her birth mother had never wanted to give her up.
But more than any of these three women, the novel tells the history of abortion rights in Canada.
And I mean that literally. Unfortunately, none of the characters are especially fleshed out. They very often become mouthpieces, and seemed more like vehicles to relay the history of reproductive rights in Canada than characters that I could really bring myself to care about.
The prose was often clunky and stilted (and was in third-person present tense, which is my least favourite of all narration styles), and sometimes veered into dangerously purple territory. And, at times, the story just felt <i>contrived</i> so that we could be sure that the characters were where they needed to be. There was a surprise twist near the end that surprised me, and <i>not</i> in a good way (the surprise wasn't a bad one, it just didn't feel like it really fit and I wondered if it didn't raise some inconsistencies, though I'm unlikely to do a reread to find out if they're really there or not).
Criticisms aside though, this story is important, and tells a very important part of Canadian history. Marshall has clearly done her research, and while the story sometimes suffers so she could expound on that history/research, it was still very informative. I have no doubt that Marshall could have written a very good non-fiction book on the subject. Clunky writing aside, it's also very easy to read and digest.
And I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone who cares to learn more about Canada's history with reproductive rights, especially if they would prefer to have that information come in the form of fiction over non-fiction.
Graphic: Abortion, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Terminal illness, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, and Infidelity
kawooreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Abortion
Minor: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Rape, Death of parent, and Death