Reviews - The Strangers | The StoryGraph

485 reviews for:

The Strangers

Katherena Vermette

4.22 AVERAGE

allthereads_neverthetime's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

safsaf118's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've been trying to think about how I feel about this book and I'm just so conflicted. It's so, so depressing and draining -- at the beginning, the author mentions she tried to cram as much love and hope as she could but I really struggled to find it. Of course, this story is about intergenerational trauma and the long-lasting impacts of colonialism so I wasn't expecting a necessarily happy story but I really felt like there was not really any structure. There were so many characters and family relatives it was hard to keep track of names, the timelines jumped all over the place and there was a lot of missing information that I found out was revealed in The Break (the author's previous book, wish I had known that before reading but oh well). The thing about telling a story from multiple perspectives is that there are always some characters you end up liking more. I really did like how each of the perspectives had their own distinct voice and the palpable emotions we can feel in their words. I was so anxious the whole time and worried about what the characters would do, and some chapters ended up "cliffhangers" that aren't really revealed??? It's a heavy, exhausting read but after hundreds of pages of despair it ends up becoming quite numbing.

Content Warnings

readyourbookshannon's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

This was sad and heavy from the first sentence until the last. But it also had a few moments of hopefulness. The book is brilliant in every way, and Katherena Vermette is a genius.

soobooksalot's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

kathysallbookmarkdup's review against another edition

5.0

The Strangers is a book about a multi-generational Metis family, The Strangers. It is told in multiple POVs - the grandmother, her daughter, and two teenage sisters. Katherena Vermette has written a book with incredibly developed characters. I cried more than once while reading this and could feel the pressures, racism, and trauma that these characters endured. It taught me a lot - mostly about the realness of intergenerational trauma.

This book will seep into your heart and stay there forever. I'm looking forward to reading The Break next as some characters from this book are featured in there as well. If you haven't read The Break yet and are questioning whether to pick this up first, do it!! You don't necessarily need to read that one first as I didn't and wasn't confused at all.

I did find the chapters to be quite long and there to be a lot of characters to keep track of; however, it didn't stop me from reading. The author provided a family tree which was extremely helpful when timelines got confusing.

Highly recommend! I think everyone should read this book.