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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
This is a coming of age story of a young woman under strict religious and patriarchal ideals. 14 year old Lacy grows up in a cult in a small town that is devastatedT by a drought. Her alcoholic mother is exiled from the cult and runs off, leaving Lacy to live with her grandma. During this time Lacy raises herself and is on a quest to save her mother - who doesn’t want to be saved.
This interesting story kept my attention, I flew through it because I had to know what happened next. Even though Lacy was young, naive, and taught all the wrong things, she still had gut instincts and intuition and knew to listen to it. I enjoyed how Lacy’s faith grew and evolved. She never lost her faith even after everything she went through. My favorite part of this book was the unlikely friendships. Women helping women is what makes the world go round
This interesting story kept my attention, I flew through it because I had to know what happened next. Even though Lacy was young, naive, and taught all the wrong things, she still had gut instincts and intuition and knew to listen to it. I enjoyed how Lacy’s faith grew and evolved. She never lost her faith even after everything she went through. My favorite part of this book was the unlikely friendships. Women helping women is what makes the world go round
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I tried so hard to finish this book in 2023 but it was so frustrating to read. I hated picking this up and almost ended up in a reading slump. Nevertheless I persevered. On to bigger and better things this year.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"I imagined turning and telling them both what Lyle had done. But I stopped. I wouldn't be a fool. To tell them about Lyle would only be telling them about myself."
A rough, unexpected, fantastic read, Godshot offers a glimpse into a rural town in which religion can bring back the rain. Peaches is thirsty for water, having experienced months, years of drought. But Pastor Vern has a plan to bring rain and fertility back to the land. Enter Lacey May and her mother. They stay with Lacey May's grandmother, Cherry, in the hopes that religion will bring them back to a straighter path. But when Pastor Vern gives everyone their assignments--including the young girls who have just started menstruating--Lacey May's mother becomes wary about just what kind of church this really is.
Upon failing her assignment, Lacey May's mother is cast out of the church, and abandons her daughter, just when she needs her most. Lacey May does not have the vocabulary for what happens to her, rape and incest, but understands that she now bears a child. Motherless and preyed upon by Pastor Vern, she wants nothing more than to find just where her mother is. So she sets out to the house where she used to work, calling men who want to hear a woman's voice.
Culminating in a heartbreaking scene of cult-sickness and birth, Chelsea Bieker has successfully created a tale filled with strife, mother-loss, and the need to belong, if at least somewhere. Lacey May's naivete is one that I recognize from girlhood, and the ways in which men manipulate are all too familiar. This is a truly stunning book, one that I found hard to come back to the real world from. Bieker writes true, and she writes passionately.
A rough, unexpected, fantastic read, Godshot offers a glimpse into a rural town in which religion can bring back the rain. Peaches is thirsty for water, having experienced months, years of drought. But Pastor Vern has a plan to bring rain and fertility back to the land. Enter Lacey May and her mother. They stay with Lacey May's grandmother, Cherry, in the hopes that religion will bring them back to a straighter path. But when Pastor Vern gives everyone their assignments--including the young girls who have just started menstruating--Lacey May's mother becomes wary about just what kind of church this really is.
Upon failing her assignment, Lacey May's mother is cast out of the church, and abandons her daughter, just when she needs her most. Lacey May does not have the vocabulary for what happens to her, rape and incest, but understands that she now bears a child. Motherless and preyed upon by Pastor Vern, she wants nothing more than to find just where her mother is. So she sets out to the house where she used to work, calling men who want to hear a woman's voice.
Culminating in a heartbreaking scene of cult-sickness and birth, Chelsea Bieker has successfully created a tale filled with strife, mother-loss, and the need to belong, if at least somewhere. Lacey May's naivete is one that I recognize from girlhood, and the ways in which men manipulate are all too familiar. This is a truly stunning book, one that I found hard to come back to the real world from. Bieker writes true, and she writes passionately.
A necessary read. For sure the best debut novel I've ever read.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
unnerving, eery, heartbreaking, disturbing, beautiful, etc etc etc etc
a story of a mother and daughter disguised as a creepy cult book, and I loved it
a story of a mother and daughter disguised as a creepy cult book, and I loved it
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I don't know. This was a little over the top and I wanted to stop reading it halfway in.