Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

66 reviews

m0_x13's review against another edition

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

4.5

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t33_'s review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed this book.
The writing was beautiful and I felt like this story could definitely be relatable to many young girls out there. 
I can’t wait to read more from this author. 
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bites_of_books's review

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challenging 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What I enjoy the most about Bennett's novels is the writing style. The perspective of this book starts from that of a group of older women who attend church and are always keeping tabs on what's happening in their community. A bit of gossip yes, but also that introspective moment when they start to remember what it was like to be a young woman falling in love, making mistakes, and always reacting to what the church would think of those actions.

At its core, this book is about motherhood, all viewed from the perspective of two young women, Nadia and Audrey, who don't have their mothers in their lives anymore. There are also other mother figures, such as Audrey's sister and her partner, the women at the church who try to give guidance in their own way, and even people at clinics who hold hands and give advice when needed. 

Nadia, Audrey, and Luke are three young people whose lives are intertwined throughout the book, they will fall in love, be protective of each other, hold resentments, and even hurt each other as they try to find ways to live their own lives. The influence of their parents, the church, and society weighs heavy on them and they really are only trying to find some kind of happiness in the best way they can. 

If you like contemporary stories that take a hard look at the influence of a community on young people, this is a great book to read. It's a heavy book with a lot of sadness and loneliness throughout so do read carefully.
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lindseyas's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.25

I really love Brit Bennett, but it's particularly her characterization methods that get me going. She has the power to create such incredibly diverse, flawed and deep characters that are perfect for one another and the plot. Each of the people in this novel, whether they play big or small parts, has their own personal history that contributes significant amounts of knowledge to the nature of the book. They each embody the stresses of motherhood or friendship or femininity or life itself — there is no perfect way to be a mother, no perfect way to be a friend, no perfect way to live or love or be yourself. The different ways in which motherhood is described in the novel is paramount to audience understanding — there are bad mothers, there are good mothers, there are absent mothers and there are mothers who just aren't up to the job just yet. It just depends on who you are. Also, Go Blue, baby.
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namii's review against another edition

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1.5

i hated reading about luke i hated all the men in this book i hated how they talked about abortion.  
Nadia made awful choices that i don’t understand but i get that i’m not really supposed to understand most of those choices that just felt harmful to everyone including herself. 
It’s like instead of choosing something easy she decided to torture herself. 
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jaja_1212's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The characters felt realistically flawed in their own ways and I enjoyed the writing metaphorical and intimate writing style, which kept me going even although the narrative voice took a while for me to get used to.

After getting such a deep, intimate look into the lives and minds of these characters the ending felt a little too abrupt,  I can see why the author might want to end it at that point in their lives though.
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jessereadsthings's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really interesting story! My only complaint is I’m not sure how I feel about the ending.
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abbie_'s review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

I was heading for a bit of a slump, luckily Brit Bennett’s debut sailed in and saved the day! I read The Vanishing Half when it came out, loved it, then in classic fashion, didn’t get round to the author’s debut for 3 years. But The Mothers is definitely worth the wait, I may even have enjoyed it more than The Vanishing Half, can’t quite decide!

It’s only 280 pages or so, but it has the richness of a novel twice that length. It follows the impact of a decision made by a 17 year old girl that reverberates through her life and the lives of those around her. It includes a perspective we don’t often hear from when it comes to abortion, and to me it felt thoughtfully done. Bennett navigates the ups and downs of a teenage friendship through to adulthood, and I think everyone did genuinely feel like they’d grown up - so often characters in their twenties are written to behave like 16 year olds.

There are quite a few questionable decisions made throughout this book, which honestly I always love lol. Can’t be dealing with drama in real life but I love my books with plenty of messiness. If you enjoy a good drama centred on friendship rather than family, I’d def recommend giving this one a go!
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arminam's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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

4.5

This was such a good read, I really liked the exact amount of plot we were given, we got a good slice of life. Somehow managed to include loads of heavy topics without being too triggering. 
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