Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - The Bread the Devil Knead

I agree with the review that this is an “emotionally immersive novel” and impossible to put down. Much of this is challenging because of the brutal abuse so this book is not for everyone. This author does not write abuse with side eye. It is vivid and up close. I found myself reading the entire book in one day because I couldn’t put it down until I knew Alethea was safe. Incredible storytelling of intersectionality and trauma.

Content Warnings

wordsofclover's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

A truly beautiful, at times devastating book about a woman's realization of her own self worth, and her journey to escape an abusive history and face the truth of her childhood - and adulthood- of abusive relationships.

“And what is love? I human, I have feelings. I with the man. Of course I love him. Yet, the way he love me does make me hate myself.”

This book tells the story of Alethea, an almost 40-year-old woman living in Trinidad and daily having to hide the marks her common law husband gives her every night. As we get to know Alethea - her intelligence, her independence and her childhood, the reader begins to understand the reasons why Alethea 'allows' herself to be trapped inside an abusive relationship. But when a woman is shot dead by a man in a 'domestic incident' outside the shop she works in, Allie can't help but see herself in the victim, and the potential of something just as deadly happening to her.

This book is addictive as you grasp onto Allie's story and all the hardships she's dealt with in life and you just root for her to stand up for herself and somehow get away from Leo and make things better for herself. It was lovely seeing Allie reconnect with her cousin/brother Colin, and her childhood friend Jankie and I enjoyed the emphasis on female friendship and support and kindness from others.

There are some really hard moments in this book - not only the constant abuse and fear Allie feels around Leo but also as we learn from her childhood, the sexual abuse she received from her uncle from the age of 5, as well as the daily physical and emotional abuse of her mother. And from there, the stream of men Allie found herself with that treated her the same, so she really knows nothing but abusive relationships and men who will put her down - physically and emotionally.

There were some interesting topics in this book as well around race and colourism. Allie is a white woman though we soon learn her grandmother was a Black woman - and Colin is a Black man. Allie details ways in which she has noticed she has been treated differently to Colin due to their skin tones.

Really enjoyed this though as I've said it was a hard read at times. Allie's story is tough, educational yet inspiring.

Content Warnings

gellyreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

So this book was hard to read for multiple reasons, but I feel like it was worth reading. It was dark, harrowing, but also uplifting and about how the human spirit can overcome and survive. Who we are and how our identities are shaped by our past and our trauma. (Although I do wish the English hadn't been so broken, especially since she was a reader).

Content Warnings

nokvi's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing book written completely in trini dialect. The Bread the Devil Knead takes us into an deep dive into Trinidadian life as we go thru the motions with Alethea as she deals with the demons of her past and present. Abuse from her childhood has followed her into adulthood till that is all she knows. And the lightheart manner via which these heavy topics are delivered is an icing on the cake as it is reflective of how someone in the situation may view the matter.

No notes 10/10

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vera_cologne's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

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

4.0

That was a hard read. I definitely recommend checking the content warnings. I am glad that I read it though, it was very intense and gripping.

Content Warnings

gobby_gilbert's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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tombomp's review

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Big trigger warnings for domestic violence, rape, child abuse, an *explicit* child sexual abuse scene, Spoilerincest. All of which are intense and there are constant scenes throughout the book.

I think it's hard to put my thoughts together about this. It's a cavalcade of trauma and abuse and then it just ends so... neatly? Like, not that the scars are resolved obviously. But it feels weird - although even saying that feels wrong, as if I'm suggesting that actually the trauma should have carried on, which is also not what I meant.

I think part of it is that the neat ending owes very little to the actions of the main character in the "present day" - there's connections formed in childhood that only just come back around all at once and we only see bits and pieces of how they happened and Spoilera loose friendship where the other person seemingly took it upon herself to get the MC's abusive violent boyfriend shot in a way that framed him as the shooter? it's a little vague at the end exactly what happened and how much knowledge people had but it's heavily implied imo. That's not bad exactly - everyone needs support and it's good to show stuff happening as a group effort, obviously. It more just adds to the sense that things wrapped up due purely to coincidence than anything else. Which... again I guess that's not that inaccurate to real life. So again I can't exactly mark it down for that.

I think the explicit child sexual abuse scene really threw me for a loop and eclipsed everything else about the book. Not suggesting it's wrong to portray it, just it was so intense (even though I had to skim it) that I couldn't really get settled about how I feel about the book due to feeling so upset and lost reading that.

I will say as an obvious unalloyed good thing: the Trinidadian Creole writing style is really good and I loved reading it. It's an incredibly readable book that's quite compelling

Content Warnings

dallastodd's review

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challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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