Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

9 reviews

lycheejelly's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Abortion, Cancer, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Fatphobia

whatskatiereading's review

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

rileyharrell's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

 WARN SOMEONE NEXT TIME...

Okay I did not NOT like this book, but I did not LIKE this book either. I am unsure about my feelings for this book. This story contains so many trigger warnings that I feel like it isn't the best forum here on Goodreads to even list them all. Anyways this has such a unique writing style that it took me a minute to get into. However, once I did, it went pretty smoothly. Some of the characters were hard to read and follow, so not really sure where their story went. I didn't feel that it was very character-driven or developed, and I felt that it wasn't necessarily plot-driven either? All of the characters, including Lacey May felt really underdeveloped and this book didn't really give them any room to grow. You could tell Bieker really wanted them to grown and definitely gave them an opportunity to do so, but it fell short in the writing of developed characters for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gun violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

zookie_b's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

2.0

I’m sure there are people out there who would love this book, but I am not one of them. Mainly because I just don’t vibe with books that just torture girls for the whole time in the name of “character development.” This book is a certified bummer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Vomit, Violence, and Pedophilia

abbsjay's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Violence

see_sarah_read's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Incest, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

shortcas's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

shelfmadewoman's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Wow, so, Godshot was something to experience. What Bieker did incredibly well was balance interesting plot with fantastic character driven writing. This created an incredibly well-paced book that kept me turning pages but had me wishing that it would never end.

I loved watching our protagonist, Lacey May, and her development throughout the book. I sometime felt that the writing of her internal thoughts were... too on the nose? But I brushed that off with her young age and the trauma she was experiencing.

Oh, yeah, about the trauma. This is often where a book fails for me personally. Trauma/suicide as plot points are a sensitive subject as a suicide survivor. Personally, none of it really bothered me in this story. I felt that the trauma was rooted in the story. The suicides were explained and justified and not ignored by the author. This is difficult territory for storytelling, but I think it was mostly handled with care. I’d love to know how others felt on this.

This might be a good book for you if you like cult stories, mother-daughter relationships, and have a strong stomach.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abortion

msmoodyreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Reading this novel felt a little like getting slapped in the face. Bieker’s writing causes a sort of numbness, but also a stinging, painful sense of awareness at the same time. 

In Godshot, a devastating drought has led the people of Peaches, California to seek out the leadership of Pastor Vern, a charismatic cult leader promising rain and salvation in exchange for unquestioning obedience. Lacey May, our narrator, is just fourteen years old when her mother abandons her to Vern’s cult. Lacey May submits her will to Pastor Vern in a desperate quest for belonging and unconditional love denied to her by her alcoholic mother. In this submission, Lacey and other young women are forced to suffer Vern’s perverse plan in order to return fertility to the land. Shocked into awareness, Lacey seeks to reveal Pastor Vern’s unthinkable plan. 

Godshot is, in large part, about complicated female relationships, and the ways in which out of those complicated relationships, we often find our own families, getting the love and support we’re missing. Bieker also takes on the ways in which group think, especially religious group think, is harmful to society at large, and especially for women and girls. Godshot reminded me a lot of The Handmaid’s Tale, but with a contemporary setting rather than a futuristic one. 

Bieker’s writing style is really unusual, and it took me some time to fall into the rhythm of her cadence. The characters are well written: round and fully characterized. The cult members, Grandma Cherry in particular, are characterized very realistically, but with a strange quirkiness. 

The abuse Lacey experiences is incredibly difficult to read about. I was only able to read short amounts at a time, and I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it until about the halfway mark. In the end, I found Godshot an incredibly moving, thought-provoking, and unique work that I highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism