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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This cult has everything. Sexy millennials in their early to mid thirties, Texas, fire, and a very youth pastor-y leader named something like Tucker, Chad, or Jake. Oh, and wait until you try...the spirit barrel.
On its own, I think this is a solid story, and I stuck with it because the protagonist was so well-written. I really enjoyed being in Rosemary's head. She doubts her faith - what protag of a cult novel doesn't? - and I think Alison Wisdom did a wonderful job of portraying Rosemary's very deliberate attempts to hide her skepticism from herself. She is messy and complicated and real.
But reviews are subjective, so here's my subjectivity. I've read 3-4 other novels that align with this very specific flavor of "sexy 30somethings join a very dubiously-appealing Christian-flavor cult led by some Tucker-Chad-Jake dude who seems only schmedium-charismatic and of course he's doing super evil things behind the scenes." I did not feel like this book did anything new with the genre and I did almost put it down, but I stayed for Rosemary and was overall glad that I did. I don't know if I'd recommend this particular one over any others.
On its own, I think this is a solid story, and I stuck with it because the protagonist was so well-written. I really enjoyed being in Rosemary's head. She doubts her faith - what protag of a cult novel doesn't? - and I think Alison Wisdom did a wonderful job of portraying Rosemary's very deliberate attempts to hide her skepticism from herself. She is messy and complicated and real.
But reviews are subjective, so here's my subjectivity. I've read 3-4 other novels that align with this very specific flavor of "sexy 30somethings join a very dubiously-appealing Christian-flavor cult led by some Tucker-Chad-Jake dude who seems only schmedium-charismatic and of course he's doing super evil things behind the scenes." I did not feel like this book did anything new with the genre and I did almost put it down, but I stayed for Rosemary and was overall glad that I did. I don't know if I'd recommend this particular one over any others.
Not what I expected from the description of the book, but a good read nonetheless. Watching Rosemary come to terms with the life she lives and the decisions she has made is incredibly compelling, and it's hard to put down once you start. The ending wasn't very strong, but still worth a read.
There’s a time in Texas summer afternoons where the heat becomes almost hypnotic. It’s so humid that it’s hard to breathe, the sound of cicadas in the trees is deafening, and you yearn for the relief of a breeze, no matter how brief. Reading The Burning Season felt a little like living through one of those afternoons: languid, dreamlike, inevitable. The prose unspooled slowly and I was entranced by it, even as events in the novel made me want to shake the heroine and snap, “Do something!” But Rosemary’s self-imposed stasis is one of the things that makes her such a realistic heroine, and I was on her side even while her decisions frustrated me. She is a believably flawed and fascinating character.
This is a cult novel, but if you’re reading for juicy revelations or shocking twists and turns, you’re in the wrong place. This is a chillingly realistic take on what joining a cult would be like, a slow moving examination of religion and misogyny rather than a book full of shocks and thrills. The author loosely based this on a cult started by alumni of her (and my) alma mater, Baylor University, and the story explores what leads people to abandon everything they know and devote themselves to a life of little pleasure and intense religious devotion. Rosemary’s life is sparse and bleak, hemmed in by her husband’s desire for a child, the church’s control, and the monotony of Dawes itself, flat and hot and barren. The real dangers of the church in Dawes arise from the believers’ acceptance of their faith’s increasingly strenuous demands and their ability to rationalize anything in the name of God.
I do wish that the ending had been less abrupt—some of the revelations at the end I felt like I needed more time (and pages) to process. I also found Caroline’s character to be absolutely fascinating, and I wish that we had spent more time with her. But on the whole, I found this book compelling and disturbing, and I relished the slow, beautiful prose. I’ll definitely be reading whatever Wisdom writes next.
This is a cult novel, but if you’re reading for juicy revelations or shocking twists and turns, you’re in the wrong place. This is a chillingly realistic take on what joining a cult would be like, a slow moving examination of religion and misogyny rather than a book full of shocks and thrills. The author loosely based this on a cult started by alumni of her (and my) alma mater, Baylor University, and the story explores what leads people to abandon everything they know and devote themselves to a life of little pleasure and intense religious devotion. Rosemary’s life is sparse and bleak, hemmed in by her husband’s desire for a child, the church’s control, and the monotony of Dawes itself, flat and hot and barren. The real dangers of the church in Dawes arise from the believers’ acceptance of their faith’s increasingly strenuous demands and their ability to rationalize anything in the name of God.
I do wish that the ending had been less abrupt—some of the revelations at the end I felt like I needed more time (and pages) to process. I also found Caroline’s character to be absolutely fascinating, and I wish that we had spent more time with her. But on the whole, I found this book compelling and disturbing, and I relished the slow, beautiful prose. I’ll definitely be reading whatever Wisdom writes next.
This was a good read! The pace does move around a little and it's one of those books that won't be for everyone but I enjoyed it!
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The School For Good Mothers (Jessamine Chan) & The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) × The Project (Courtney Summers) in a debut that will stay with me for a long time. Haunting how quickly a person can earn power & leadership and let it lead to destruction. The Burning Season hit a bit close to home with a string of barn arsons in our not so distant community history. Very emotional read on many levels and would be a wonderful book club pick just to be able to discuss it all.
4.5/5 stars
review coming…because wow i loved this
the burning season is about a religious group living in a small town in texas. it’s about a married couple who had some problems, and turned to religion to help solve them. it’s about the struggle to get pregnant, the struggle to even want to become pregnant, and having to deal with the repercussions by other women when you don’t have children. it’s about religion, how welcoming and also how unwelcoming it can be. mostly though, this book was about how far someone will go to save their relationship.
to say i loved this book is an understatement, just from the synopsis i was extremely excited to read it, but right from the beginning i was hooked. cults, texas culture, a woman who is trying to find herself and her place in the world, like yes. sign me up. i read this all in one day, in two sittings, with a three hour break in the middle. it was that good.
so many things were questioned by this book: patriarchy, religion, child bearing, marriage, the idea of family, nostalgia. and the way they were written left the reader to decide their own answer. the vibes were very similar to “handmaids tale” but was a better read imo. and had a fairly good twist to the end that i didn’t guess. i loved following the story, as we learned the current lives of rosie and her husband, the lives they had before they joined the cult, and the future that is never promised to them.
the epilogue felt a little misplaced, and i believe the book may have been better without it. at times the mc thoughts droned on when she was reminiscing about life before she joined the cult, but overall this was a thrilling read, and i will think about it for quite some time
review coming…because wow i loved this
the burning season is about a religious group living in a small town in texas. it’s about a married couple who had some problems, and turned to religion to help solve them. it’s about the struggle to get pregnant, the struggle to even want to become pregnant, and having to deal with the repercussions by other women when you don’t have children. it’s about religion, how welcoming and also how unwelcoming it can be. mostly though, this book was about how far someone will go to save their relationship.
to say i loved this book is an understatement, just from the synopsis i was extremely excited to read it, but right from the beginning i was hooked. cults, texas culture, a woman who is trying to find herself and her place in the world, like yes. sign me up. i read this all in one day, in two sittings, with a three hour break in the middle. it was that good.
so many things were questioned by this book: patriarchy, religion, child bearing, marriage, the idea of family, nostalgia. and the way they were written left the reader to decide their own answer. the vibes were very similar to “handmaids tale” but was a better read imo. and had a fairly good twist to the end that i didn’t guess. i loved following the story, as we learned the current lives of rosie and her husband, the lives they had before they joined the cult, and the future that is never promised to them.
the epilogue felt a little misplaced, and i believe the book may have been better without it. at times the mc thoughts droned on when she was reminiscing about life before she joined the cult, but overall this was a thrilling read, and i will think about it for quite some time
reflective
tense
slow-paced