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thebiasedbibliophile's review against another edition
Trigger Warning: Rape
I really wanted to like this book, as I thought the premise would be interesting. The main character's sister was raped and the story was supposed to be about dealing with the aftermath when the judge doesn't give the rapist any prison time after a jury found him guilty. Unfortunately, the book was poorly written and extremely disjointed. The protagonist is extremely annoying, she randomly writes poetry that does not make much sense, and she focuses entirely on herself while acting like she cares about her sister. Overall, the writing was simply so poorly executed and the storyline was not what I expected.
I really wanted to like this book, as I thought the premise would be interesting. The main character's sister was raped and the story was supposed to be about dealing with the aftermath when the judge doesn't give the rapist any prison time after a jury found him guilty. Unfortunately, the book was poorly written and extremely disjointed. The protagonist is extremely annoying, she randomly writes poetry that does not make much sense, and she focuses entirely on herself while acting like she cares about her sister. Overall, the writing was simply so poorly executed and the storyline was not what I expected.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
mom2zt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
esmeralda's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
First of all, this was a completely random read, I saw it somewhere and thought it sounded interesting. Am I ever grateful to whichever book blogger mentioned this book. It was truly remarkable read (a read sure to end up on my best-books-of-2021 list), one of those rare books that you cannot put down and that leaves you with a certain feeling of awe in the power of a talented author’s words.
It is a story about a biological family and a found family. WA, WF explores what healing looks like for the family of a rape survivor, what a new normal could be for them, and the fact that the trauma is real for the family as well. It is a book about sisters, the helplessness that comes from seeing your sister broken and hurting, and the power of a sisterly bond.
In the end, I cannot recommend this powerful story enough….for older readers.
TW/CW: Rape, Non-binary rep, Sexism (PG-13) | Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Historical-Fiction
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
mybookishworld's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
juliezantopoulos's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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
I was led to believe that this book was told in prose and verse...and it just wasn't. This is structured like any other novel with snippets of a story written by our MC. I am not the target age demographic of this book, but I have seen other YA books tackle the topic of rape and justice in more complex and nuanced ways. I appreciated the cultural diversity and the gender diversity represented, but overall the characters and story fell flat for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
charisma_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
As much as I really wanted to love this one (and believe me, I really did), their was just something missing from the story for me.
First things first, this book is half written in regular chapters and half written in prose. It’s essentially a story within a story. Both the story of the MC, Em Morales and her story of poems written in prose of Marguerite de Bressieux is an important one. We follow Em through her trials and tribulations of her current life throughout summer. She is upset about her sisters trial outcome, how the justice system and the judge failed her and her family, about how every time she writes something in defense of her sister and her family and other rape victims out there she is then met with huge consequences that don’t help anyone especially herself and all the while, trying to find out how to get vengeance for the wrong doing that has been done to her family. The only way she finds a way out of the madness of her life is writing a story of poems and how she can take vengeance and revenge through her story and her fictional characters. As we follow her through this rabbit hole of her poems, we see how she loses herself in her writing. She disregards her family, her newest friend Jess whom we also see how their nonbinary status plays a role in this book, and essentially makes everything about herself. She is nonetheless, self destructive.
It takes a self inflicted (not purposely drawn towards a suicide incident) incident that happens to Em, for her to realize how much damage she has caused to the people around her. She does end up finishing her story at Marguerite, but at what cost?
My reasoning for giving this book 3 stars was because of how self absorbed Em was in her self. She made an incident that did not happen directly to her, about her in the end. She did not understand how her actions were affecting herself, and her loved ones as well. It also would have been nice to have more insight into the story of what was going on with her and her sister and everyone else as opposed to mainly focusing on her poetry novel. It was really insightful to see how a rape trial and the outcome of it, affects not only the victim, but there family members around them and how they cope with it day to day.
Thank you to the publishers for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
First things first, this book is half written in regular chapters and half written in prose. It’s essentially a story within a story. Both the story of the MC, Em Morales and her story of poems written in prose of Marguerite de Bressieux is an important one. We follow Em through her trials and tribulations of her current life throughout summer. She is upset about her sisters trial outcome, how the justice system and the judge failed her and her family, about how every time she writes something in defense of her sister and her family and other rape victims out there she is then met with huge consequences that don’t help anyone especially herself and all the while, trying to find out how to get vengeance for the wrong doing that has been done to her family. The only way she finds a way out of the madness of her life is writing a story of poems and how she can take vengeance and revenge through her story and her fictional characters. As we follow her through this rabbit hole of her poems, we see how she loses herself in her writing. She disregards her family, her newest friend Jess whom we also see how their nonbinary status plays a role in this book, and essentially makes everything about herself. She is nonetheless, self destructive.
It takes a self inflicted (not purposely drawn towards a suicide incident) incident that happens to Em, for her to realize how much damage she has caused to the people around her. She does end up finishing her story at Marguerite, but at what cost?
My reasoning for giving this book 3 stars was because of how self absorbed Em was in her self. She made an incident that did not happen directly to her, about her in the end. She did not understand how her actions were affecting herself, and her loved ones as well. It also would have been nice to have more insight into the story of what was going on with her and her sister and everyone else as opposed to mainly focusing on her poetry novel. It was really insightful to see how a rape trial and the outcome of it, affects not only the victim, but there family members around them and how they cope with it day to day.
Thank you to the publishers for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
utopiastateofmind's review against another edition
5.0
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the Bookish First. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire is a book that will ignite your rage. It's so fiercely feminist in the ways it discusses a culture that ignores and excuses. The way women and girls are taught to be ashamed, to be blamed for their assault, to become ostracized for speaking up. The rampant sexism and culture that does not believe victims and excuses perpetrators. It's a world we know, one we live in, like fish in water. Em's story is one about coming to terms with the ideas of justice.
Knowing that justice sometimes doesn't win. That, despite fancy words and sentences, it cannot address the roots of the problem. All the people who stood by and said nothing, if not defended. McCulllough brings her skill in writing verse novels not only to feature some moving verse sections, but also to infuse that lyrical quality in the prose. It's a book that was full of me nodding my head. Me clutching my book and screaming to the skies. Em has to figure out how she can come to terms with the women society ignores. The accusations and stories that are never told. And what we can do when we have the power of speech.
We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire is a book that will ignite your rage. It's so fiercely feminist in the ways it discusses a culture that ignores and excuses. The way women and girls are taught to be ashamed, to be blamed for their assault, to become ostracized for speaking up. The rampant sexism and culture that does not believe victims and excuses perpetrators. It's a world we know, one we live in, like fish in water. Em's story is one about coming to terms with the ideas of justice.
Knowing that justice sometimes doesn't win. That, despite fancy words and sentences, it cannot address the roots of the problem. All the people who stood by and said nothing, if not defended. McCulllough brings her skill in writing verse novels not only to feature some moving verse sections, but also to infuse that lyrical quality in the prose. It's a book that was full of me nodding my head. Me clutching my book and screaming to the skies. Em has to figure out how she can come to terms with the women society ignores. The accusations and stories that are never told. And what we can do when we have the power of speech.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Rape
booksandagita's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Blood
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