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mandi_lea's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Child death, War, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
tenten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
in preparation to write a family story of my own, i have decided to read family sagas for inspiration, first Pachinko, now this. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie follows the eponymous Hattie and her 11 children (plus one grandchild.) like Pachinko, this book centers around a woman, her offspring, and the ramifications that woman's decisions had on her children's lives.
just two years after moving to Philadelphia from Georgia with her mother and two sisters, Hattie finds herself broke in an apartment with two sick babies. her twins die of pneumonia, an event which stays with her forever. her grief hardens her, so she raises her other nine children without any tenderness. her love manifests in the ways that she sacrifies for them, and tries her best to raise them with what little she has. she makes a lot of mistakes though, and all of her children come our with scars (mental, physical, emotional.)
i really enjoyed this book! because each chapter focused on a different child and situation, it felt like a quick read. i loved the figurative language, the different stylistic choices (some chapters being in first person with others being in third, the structure of the Franklin chapter, etc), and how we got different perspectives on certain situations and characters.
neither Hattie nor any of her child have happy or pleasant lives — i would say the chapters that ended on a more hopeful note, all things considered, were "Bell" and "Sala" — but i didn't find this to be too Much. maybe because these traumatic things happened to different people, rather one person getting the brunt of the suffering? i liked the diversity of experiences even within a singular family: one child struggling with repressed sexuality, another who escapes poverty by marrying a rich man but is trapped by her own mind and trauma, a soldier looking back on his mistakes while he lives the horror of the Vietnam War. one of my favorite chapters was "Six," because it felt almost like i different genre, with Six feeling literally like he got possessed.
this was an ambitious text, and while some chapters were better than others, i did enjoy the book overall. 3.75!
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
zombiezami's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Infertility, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Ableism, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Death, Cursing, and Bullying
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Medical content, Blood, Vomit, Excrement, and Gun violence
Colorism, War, Neglect