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vonni's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If you're like me and enjoy a pastoral, alpine, mystery book with luscious descriptions and haunting tones, this book is a must read. It's a bit slow to start, but the intrigue of the setting kept me engaged and I am so thankful that I stuck around for the whole novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Infertility, Animal death, Bullying, and Pregnancy
immovabletype's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Body horror and Pregnancy
Minor: War
muddymind's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
This is an odd little book. It seemed like everything was happening all at once but at the same time nothing happened really at all. I found this book to have prevalent themes of generational trauma, the sacrifices of motherhood, the complexities of home & love. There’s a limited cast of characters but I don’t feel particularly close to any of them although I can sympathize with some. Overall I enjoyed this novel but I don’t think it was detailed enough towards the ending. The last chapter felt rushed & I still have a lot of questions, maybe that’s by design & we aren’t supposed to be provided all the answers but I’m left feeling puzzled.
It’s a beautiful book & it’s certainly interesting. I would like to read it again & see if I view it differently the second time around.
It’s a beautiful book & it’s certainly interesting. I would like to read it again & see if I view it differently the second time around.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Violence
brucethegirl's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mother's in their town regularly disappear without warning. There one moment, gone the next. As Vera grows, she wonders what her life will bring. She fears at first that motherhood will never come to her, then she fears that she will not stay,
A poetic foray into a physical manifestation of the trials, tribulations, and wrenching that is motherhood. At times I can understand, but at other points i feel I will never truly understand this book until I am a mother myself.
It is a study in all the ways people who are born and raised girls are expected to perform, but also the ways they are expected to disappear into their future children.
There are always groups of three among the girls, a friend and a spare should one of them disappear. There are the ways the disappeared are erased after they leave. Their photos burned, their children now becoming the children of their husband's new wife in every way.,
I feel like the ways this books could be analyzed are endless. The way a girl will be expected to give her all, and never be good enough, when she becomes a mother. The way women never share the hurt, or if they do its always something to be judged by, How the women leaving the town do so, but the pain they felt is never discussed- just as the truth about pregnancy and childbirth is so rarely shared with young women.
Reading this book, I couldn't help but think about a recent thread on twitter, talking about all the things so few people know about childbirth and pregnancy, and how by never talking about it, but keeping those truths like secrets, the next generations of mothers are shocked and horrified when those same things happen to them. And each new mother feels as though they are alone in their strife and grief and horror, because by never sharing the truth, other mothers have isolated the new mothers. A vicious cycle.
I will say I felt sad that no character is ever truly delved into. Even Vera is only ever a kind of surface view into the life of the town, then a comparison into the life outside the town. Not she, nor any other character is ever really detailed. You only ever get the briefest glimpse of them. A pity considering how fleshed out and vibrant so much of everything else is.
Some things are never explained, but can also be chalked up to the gossip told to each other (the way some mothers will just vanish, when in reality they obviously snuck away in the night.), or the reason for the hair pins. Or do some women truly vanish, but others use it as a means to get out? It's never explained. It's never discovered. There's no secret railroad for the women to escape along, it is always only them by themselves. Left abandoned by the ones who left before them.
A poetic foray into a physical manifestation of the trials, tribulations, and wrenching that is motherhood. At times I can understand, but at other points i feel I will never truly understand this book until I am a mother myself.
It is a study in all the ways people who are born and raised girls are expected to perform, but also the ways they are expected to disappear into their future children.
There are always groups of three among the girls, a friend and a spare should one of them disappear. There are the ways the disappeared are erased after they leave. Their photos burned, their children now becoming the children of their husband's new wife in every way.,
I feel like the ways this books could be analyzed are endless. The way a girl will be expected to give her all, and never be good enough, when she becomes a mother. The way women never share the hurt, or if they do its always something to be judged by, How the women leaving the town do so, but the pain they felt is never discussed- just as the truth about pregnancy and childbirth is so rarely shared with young women.
Reading this book, I couldn't help but think about a recent thread on twitter, talking about all the things so few people know about childbirth and pregnancy, and how by never talking about it, but keeping those truths like secrets, the next generations of mothers are shocked and horrified when those same things happen to them. And each new mother feels as though they are alone in their strife and grief and horror, because by never sharing the truth, other mothers have isolated the new mothers. A vicious cycle.
I will say I felt sad that no character is ever truly delved into. Even Vera is only ever a kind of surface view into the life of the town, then a comparison into the life outside the town. Not she, nor any other character is ever really detailed. You only ever get the briefest glimpse of them. A pity considering how fleshed out and vibrant so much of everything else is.
Some things are never explained, but can also be chalked up to the gossip told to each other (the way some mothers will just vanish, when in reality they obviously snuck away in the night.), or the reason for the hair pins. Or do some women truly vanish, but others use it as a means to get out? It's never explained. It's never discovered. There's no secret railroad for the women to escape along, it is always only them by themselves. Left abandoned by the ones who left before them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse
julesleigh's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
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