Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

11 reviews

lennie_reads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

After seeing the film it's easy to see where the inspirations came from, and it certainly made it easier to picture certain things. 

Whilst I loved the film, with it's stunningly unique visuals and fantastic cast, the book, as a whole, grabbed me just a bit more. It's hard to explain if you've not read it (because of spoilers) but it was a solid 4 stars for me until the last 3rd of the book which bumped it up to 5. 

It's such a weird unique clever little book. 

I Definitely recommend picking it up, and preferably as an audiobook if you have the chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death

imme_su's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexism

Minor: Abortion

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• 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? Yes

3.0

Insane last chapter: Gray deconstructs & satirises not just the novel but class, love & objectivity in storytelling/history. Keen to see how the film compares! 3🧠 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Classism, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide, and Terminal illness

adventures_in_bookstagram's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Interesting, occasionally surreal with effective metatextual elements and great performances by Kathryn Drysdale and Russ Bain as the narrators. The central concept is creepy and a bit gross (various men lusting after a woman with a child's brain), but those characters are presented as grotesque and/or pathetic so, to me, it reads as satire of male objectification of women (especially girls), especially when we get Bella/Victoria's perspective in the third act. I enjoyed the blend of genres, with unexpected dips into sci-fi (as a Frankenstein retelling), horror and magical realism (the Scream stands out), travel narratives and pseudo-historiography (I really enjoyed the preface and editor's notes, for example). There was also lots of commentary on classism, gender, misogyny (including medical misogyny), colonialism, regionalism (the main characters are <i>Scottish</i> and that matters!) and socialism and it was interesting to watch the naive and sheltered main character discover and reckon with the world's injustices; her long letter to the male narrator was one of my favourite sections of the novel.  It was also a lot funnier than I was expecting, though it ends on a kind of bitter-sweet note. Finally, I loved its strong sense of place and many references to places in Glasgow! This is a weird one, but well worth reading for its unusual narrative choices and fantastic heroine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Abortion, Incest, and Pedophilia

The central concept flirts with pedophilia without technically actually featuring pedophilia, but some readers may not be comfortable with it. There are also incestuous overtones to the MC's relationship with her Guardian/father figure, according to the male narrator, though his perspective is later called into question. It only features relatively briefly, but the main character is also threatened with a clitoridectomy and shaming female sexual desire is a major theme, this being a novel set in the Victorian era about a sexually-active woman.

iamnothingnew's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Abortion

rohrbaugh82's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide

Minor: Abortion

lindseytrim's review

dark mysterious reflective

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

gordyfromschool's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Incest, Classism, Physical abuse, Abortion, Body horror, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, and Colonisation

meg_sc's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

A few months ago, I saw a trailer for a very weird film at the cinema. At the time, I had no idea it was based on a book, but I found the audiobook of Poor Things on my @libby.app - it was slightly outside of my normal reading comfort zone but a really fascinating read. I'd recommend it if you're into historical fiction, feminism and thinking about autonomy, and weird vibes. Throughout I was thinking I was wondering if I'd missed something, Bella's story is about her developing her own autonomy, but is told almost entirely by a man, so the ending was very welcome to me (even if I'm now not sure what to believe!) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Child abuse, and Xenophobia

jsuispoesie's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

2.5

If this book had been narrated from the point of view of Bella instead of her husband's it would have been a fantastic read, because Bella Baxter is a chaotic modern woman in a world that is not yet ready to her greatness. She is a doctor, a socialist, she helps women, poor people, children... I would have love to read about her life, her ambitions and her education, but no. Guess we need the absurd story written a man who loves(?) and is jealous of her. I'm really curious and scared about the movie, because in the husband's book Bella is described as someone with an enormous sexual desire... and I fear that the film can only reduce her to this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide and Abortion