Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

27 reviews

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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thissagreads's review against another edition

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challenging sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

I had high expectations for this book, and the Audio is what saved it. The storytelling was mediocre, and there was so much left at the end of the story that wasn’t answered or remedied. Not to mention how frustrating it was that

we don’t really know what Proctor and Althea did- were they stealing tax money? Or inflating their costs of goods at their restaurant and then skimming off the top? Something happened financially but it never becomes clear. EVEN MORE FRUSTRATING IS ALTHEA AND HER LACK OF DESIRE TO BE OPEN TO CHANGE AND TO BE A BETTER SISTER WHO’S HOMOPHOBIC TO HER SISTER VIOLA, TURNS A BLIND EYE TO HER BROTHER BEATING AND TORTURING THEIR YOUNGEST SISTER LILLIAN WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG, AND TO BE A BETTER MOTHER WHO TAKES ACCOUNTABILITY INSTEAD HER ATTITUDE IS “well that’s just how the world is so I’m preparing everyone for it” she has no remorse until the very end! And it’s a fraction of the remorse she SHOULD be feeling! UGH

I think what was also frustrating, was that the sisters didn’t have enough development, and the story went so back and forth from each sister AND from their past, to present, that there was just WAY too much to unpack and solve or figure out before the end of the book. I think if the author did a story for each sister, or made the book twice as long, it wouldn’t have felt like emotional whip lash while reading and seeing that maybe only 3 of the characters made actual steps towards real, permanent change.

It would’ve been nice for the author to go down the recovery journey of the sister Viola, with the eating disorder so the reader could really envision what that experience would be like. It would’ve also been nice to see the healing journey of the sister Lillian, while she works on her ptsd from her abusive big brother, AND TO SEE ALTHEA WORK ON HER HOMOPHOBIA AND FATPHOBIA! But everything felt so vague and that the surface of each sister’s life was just barely getting scratched.

I really wished the author took more time writing this because it had such good potential! But -in my opinion- there were so many characters, and not enough story to really dig into the the things that needed more than a few chapters.

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ssinforshort's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's hard to review this book.

These characters are not perfect, and some aren't even likeable l, but I still enjoyed the novel.

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ldyluck's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Lots of difficult topics in this book.

Prison
Arson
Child abuse and neglect
Weight-centric themes
Body-centric themes
Runaways
Family strife
Unhoused people
Adultery

It was a look at a typical multi-generational family where neglect is learned and then doled out to the next generation. It was not an uplifting read and many of the characters were unlikeable. It felt like an accurate portrayal of kids "in the system) (or who should have been).

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