I devoured this book in the course of 24 hours…and then promptly realized I kind of hated it. Trigger warning: this book is about incest and extreme abuse, and all of it is described in graphic detail. Some of my issues with this graphic detail will be described in the review, so keep this in mind before reading ahead. As mentioned, the main protagonist of this book, Turtle, is being physically and sexually abused by her loner father, who eschews all social norms because he […]
A Classic, Validating Explainer on Abusive Men
First, I’ll note that this entire book comes with a trigger warning, if that’s not obvious from the title. This 2002 book was written by a man who worked directly with abusive men, and includes many case studies and examples of their abuse, their partners’ experiences, and their mindsets. It is not an easy read. I went into this as a survivor of abuse knowing it would not be an easy read and mentally prepared myself, and it was still very tough. This book was […]
I Didn’t HATE Hate List…But I Didn’t Like it Either
There’s something to be said for young adult books that are actually written the way a teen might actually talk…and then there’s something to be said for young adult books that assume all teens are incapable of articulating themselves well. I’m not sure if the latter is where Jennifer Brown actually falls, but this book definitely suffered from being written as if it was trying to mimic a teen voice. The basic plot of the novel is that Valerie, our main character, is a survivor […]
A Worthy Follow-Up to a Classic
I’ll have to admit that I’m somewhat biased here, because Jane Yolen is one of my favorite young adult authors and her two other novels about the Holocaust (the dreamlike Briar Rose and the memorably earnest The Devil’s Arithmetic) are books I found beautiful. I was just browsing my local library’s YA section randomly and saw this book: I didn’t even know she had written another novel about the Holocaust. While Briar Rose transposed its story into a fairy tale and The Devil’s Arithmetic read like […]