Reviews with content warning for Car accident - The Berry Pickers

The story of Ruthie and Joe is so sad and so necessary. I loved the writing and the complex characters. It would be easy to be set against the kidnapping family, but even with those characters, there was complexity throughout the book.
Ruthie's journey is hard to read, mostly because of the gaslighting that she endures. I think many things did happen to her and she didn't get to have much agency, but that felt like a big part of the point of the story in this case.
Joe was a potentially unlikeable character who did grow for me and his story is truly heartbreaking. His emotional journey was difficult to connect to at times but there were certain moments that were so heartfelt and real for me that I couldn't help but want to just wrap him up in a blanket.
I'd love to read more of Peters' books! I simply loved her writing, at times I was so wrapped up in it that I did forget everything that was going on around me. That's a great book for me!

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bellarosereads's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Although you sort of know the end from the start, I sobbed through the last 30 pages or so.

Overall, while I was interested in Norma/Ruthie's story in terms of how she ended up learning the truth but not as much what happened to her. I found Joe's inner life and the ramifications of Ruthie's disappearance and his other life mistakes and tragedies more compelling.

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lahars_little_library's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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jesslinkletter's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I did enjoy this book and felt it was deeply emotional and thought provoking regarding grief and how we deal with it in different ways. I feel like there's not a lot spelled out in this book (for example, that the sixties scoop was very real and that several children were taken from indigenous families, that the police really would not care about a missing indigenous child unfortunately, and also that June and Alice were queer), and I feel like if you missed those points you may not have enjoyed it as much.

I do wish that this story had taken one of two other routes - either having Ruthie return to her family earlier on and show her reconnecting to her Indigenous culture, or making where she was and if she would return more of a mystery instead of revealing everything in the first few chapters.

But overall, Amanda Peters wrote incredibly complex characters and weaved them together through such a tragic, grief stricken story. It explores family bonds as a primary theme, as well as identity.

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machenn's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found this book to be a thoughtful exploration of the epidemic of white families "adopting" indigenous children and of the generational trauma inflicted by centuries of oppression and forced assimilation. I liked the shifting perspectives, although I found Joe's to be a bit overwrought and self-pitying. I adored the depiction of the weight of Ruthie/Norma's "mother's" expectations and memories on her, and I appreciated how Ruthie/Norma slowly came to understand what had happened to her.

I saw in the reviews that this book was unsatisfying to many, and I agree that it could have benefitted from spending more time on what it was like for Ruthie to reunite with her family after so many years. I would have preferred less cataloguing of Joe's meandering life and more reckoning with the aftermath of Ruthie coming home and coming to terms with her identity.

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befrazzledenby's review

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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meganclaire7's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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

4.5

Mystery meets historical fiction vibes ~ the whole concept of this book is phenomenal and had me wanting to read more! I really liked the dual POV, however I did think the narrators were unreliable at times (which is not my fav). This book also kinda falls in the coming-of-age genre as it follows the characters throughout their life (if you’re into that) — also, def check TW before reading!

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