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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
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
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
3.5 stars
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review (even though I preordered the book the day before my request was granted!).
This is Katherena Vermette's second fiction book after The Break. I feel like I would have rated this book higher had I not been thinking about The Break the whole time I read this as The Break is one of my all-time favourite books! Probably didn't help I read this over a few weeks at the beginning of a school year either.
The Strangers follows a few generations of a family. Vermette deftly crafts beautifully well-rounded and multi-dimensional characters. Many heavy topics are covered: addictions, foster care, racism, child apprehension, and solitary incarceration.
All in all, a very beautiful book that changed my perspective on things.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review (even though I preordered the book the day before my request was granted!).
This is Katherena Vermette's second fiction book after The Break. I feel like I would have rated this book higher had I not been thinking about The Break the whole time I read this as The Break is one of my all-time favourite books! Probably didn't help I read this over a few weeks at the beginning of a school year either.
The Strangers follows a few generations of a family. Vermette deftly crafts beautifully well-rounded and multi-dimensional characters. Many heavy topics are covered: addictions, foster care, racism, child apprehension, and solitary incarceration.
All in all, a very beautiful book that changed my perspective on things.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
challenging
dark
emotional
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
The Strangers picks up where The Break left off. It starts with Phoenix Stranger pregnant and in jail. The scenes of Phoenix handcuffed to the bed while giving birth and then having to give up her newborn son after holding him briefly are some of the most harrowing I've read. The book then follows the ups and mostly downs of the rest of the Stranger family: Phoenix's drug-addicted mother, Elsie, ever hopeful of turning her life around and having a family with her daughters; her tough, emotionally distant, and secretly long-suffering grandmother, Margaret; and her studious younger sister, Cedar, who spends time in foster homes and eventually moves in with her father's second family. It's pretty bleak, but there are some glimmers of hope at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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