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booksthatburn's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Alcohol and Animal death
beforeviolets's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
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
4.5
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Rebecca Podos for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
“Judaism is more than religion, you know. More even than ritual and tradition. It’s family… We are all the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, and Leah. We are all united by the actions and sacrifices and the covenant of our ancestors. We were all born into the ancient story of our people, which still unfolds today. Know this, and everything else can be learned.”
A riveting and layered YA sapphic fantasy filled to the brim with Jewish folklore and history. This is a story about family, identity, isolation, truth, and culture. But most importantly, this is a story about stories. And how important it is to know your own.
This book wonderfully discusses the danger of repressing your burdens and the importance of openly sharing familial history and culture. By displaying the timelines of three descending generations of women and illustrating the trauma they endure, the fear they live by, and the burdens they carry (physical and conceptual), this book is able to demonstrate the effects of generational trauma. It shows how the weight we carry from our ancestors is not chosen, but lives in us regardless, and that we must pass down our culture and our stories and our knowledge because that is how cycles are broken and damage can be confronted. It also portrays the feelings of isolation one can feel when cut off from their loved ones through forced distance, through fear, and through lack of communication and the trauma and loss that can occur when one isn't connected with their family.
My favorite part of this work was how jam-packed it is with Jewish stories and mythology. It offers up a conversation about the way stories literally and metaphorically weave and influence our history and culture. It asks us to question what we accept as truth and what could be possible. Something about the way this book is written made me genuinely believe in its lore. It encourages an open mind and a willingness to learn, and now I can’t wait to go pick up some non-fiction books about Jewish lore to gain even more knowledge about my own culture.
Additionally, I just love Gabe. He’s the best older brother of all time.
TW: underage drinking, blood, parental abandonment, death of family members (grandmother to MC during plot of book offscreen, other family members in flashback mention), grief, discussion and portrayal of WWII/The Holocaust, anti-semitism (theme), death by starvation (offscreen, mention), child death (mention), injury, violence, confinement, kidnapping
“Judaism is more than religion, you know. More even than ritual and tradition. It’s family… We are all the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, and Leah. We are all united by the actions and sacrifices and the covenant of our ancestors. We were all born into the ancient story of our people, which still unfolds today. Know this, and everything else can be learned.”
A riveting and layered YA sapphic fantasy filled to the brim with Jewish folklore and history. This is a story about family, identity, isolation, truth, and culture. But most importantly, this is a story about stories. And how important it is to know your own.
This book wonderfully discusses the danger of repressing your burdens and the importance of openly sharing familial history and culture. By displaying the timelines of three descending generations of women and illustrating the trauma they endure, the fear they live by, and the burdens they carry (physical and conceptual), this book is able to demonstrate the effects of generational trauma. It shows how the weight we carry from our ancestors is not chosen, but lives in us regardless, and that we must pass down our culture and our stories and our knowledge because that is how cycles are broken and damage can be confronted. It also portrays the feelings of isolation one can feel when cut off from their loved ones through forced distance, through fear, and through lack of communication and the trauma and loss that can occur when one isn't connected with their family.
My favorite part of this work was how jam-packed it is with Jewish stories and mythology. It offers up a conversation about the way stories literally and metaphorically weave and influence our history and culture. It asks us to question what we accept as truth and what could be possible. Something about the way this book is written made me genuinely believe in its lore. It encourages an open mind and a willingness to learn, and now I can’t wait to go pick up some non-fiction books about Jewish lore to gain even more knowledge about my own culture.
Additionally, I just love Gabe. He’s the best older brother of all time.
TW: underage drinking, blood, parental abandonment, death of family members (grandmother to MC during plot of book offscreen, other family members in flashback mention), grief, discussion and portrayal of WWII/The Holocaust, anti-semitism (theme), death by starvation (offscreen, mention), child death (mention), injury, violence, confinement, kidnapping
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Confinement, and Kidnapping
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