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slantedspines's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.5
Jones’ writing is so impressive and I love how she wove the characters’ dialects into her lyrical prose. At the end of the novel I enjoyed how all of the characters kind of came full circle in the story, including a few people who kept cleverly reappearing. The book carries a lot, generational trauma and toxic patriarchy to name just two very apparent themes.
Although skillfully executed, this story is quite joyless and heavy, so I don’t advise anyone to pick up this book lightly. It is an incredibly raw portrayal of poverty, physical and sexual violence, and death, so do consider your own well-being while reading it.
Trigger warnings for this book: physical/domestic abuse, child abuse, rape, infant death, sex work, pedophilia, incest, murder, burglary, victim blaming, animal abuse, diarrhea, infidelity, gun violence
Although skillfully executed, this story is quite joyless and heavy, so I don’t advise anyone to pick up this book lightly. It is an incredibly raw portrayal of poverty, physical and sexual violence, and death, so do consider your own well-being while reading it.
Trigger warnings for this book: physical/domestic abuse, child abuse, rape, infant death, sex work, pedophilia, incest, murder, burglary, victim blaming, animal abuse, diarrhea, infidelity, gun violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Abortion, and Incest
Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Trafficking, and Toxic relationship
keatynbergsten's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, and Murder
anonymousreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Rape and Child death
moirarose616's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Child death
breannamarie619's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Racial slurs
sharese_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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
5.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones.
Today was a day y’all. It went from a tornado warning and threats of hail to this double rainbow in quick turn around. And I finished this powerhouse of a book.
I am stunned by the depth, beauty, atrocity, brevity and expansion of this book. @cheriejoneswrites brings you to Baxter’s Beach, brings you into the bodies, minds, mouth, hearts, under the fingernails, into the bowels of the Bajans featured in this book. I am not sure I’ve read a book that has immersed me into the setting as this one did.
There is A LOT going on in these brief 278 pages. It starts with a birth, proceeds with a death and another death and another death and an almost death and ends with one escape another incarceration. Everything bad you can think of happens in this book- it is not for those that have triggers of abuse, death of any age, or sexual assault of any kind (and I’m sure I’m missing some). But in the end it is a book about people. People who experience the worst of humanity which unfortunately is often the majority of humanity. And Ms. Jones writes it plainly and honestly while doing so in the language of her native country. The perspective and narration styles change throughout the book which at first I thought would be distracting but in the end I think enhanced the immersion.
I appreciated so much about this book and can’t wait to hear others’ perspectives with @bookofcinz book club this month. This book has been on my radar since she posted it last year. Thank you @bliss_books_wine_kc for making it available to me in your shop. I will definitely be adding it to my personal collection and suggest anyone do the same.
Today was a day y’all. It went from a tornado warning and threats of hail to this double rainbow in quick turn around. And I finished this powerhouse of a book.
I am stunned by the depth, beauty, atrocity, brevity and expansion of this book. @cheriejoneswrites brings you to Baxter’s Beach, brings you into the bodies, minds, mouth, hearts, under the fingernails, into the bowels of the Bajans featured in this book. I am not sure I’ve read a book that has immersed me into the setting as this one did.
There is A LOT going on in these brief 278 pages. It starts with a birth, proceeds with a death and another death and another death and an almost death and ends with one escape another incarceration. Everything bad you can think of happens in this book- it is not for those that have triggers of abuse, death of any age, or sexual assault of any kind (and I’m sure I’m missing some). But in the end it is a book about people. People who experience the worst of humanity which unfortunately is often the majority of humanity. And Ms. Jones writes it plainly and honestly while doing so in the language of her native country. The perspective and narration styles change throughout the book which at first I thought would be distracting but in the end I think enhanced the immersion.
I appreciated so much about this book and can’t wait to hear others’ perspectives with @bookofcinz book club this month. This book has been on my radar since she posted it last year. Thank you @bliss_books_wine_kc for making it available to me in your shop. I will definitely be adding it to my personal collection and suggest anyone do the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape
eveningstar_reader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Incest, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
2treads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In a word, this story is gripping. From the cautionary tale of the tunnels, I was invested in how this would unfold and was not disappointed.
Jones has written a narrative that is wholly Caribbean and so familiar. The relationships, interactions, existence, friendships, families, and experiences of each and every character. The deftness with which she layered each characters' stories was smooth and served to sweep the reader from house to road to beach to rich to poor and back again.
It is bursting with life, peopled with characters with attitudes that reach from the page and envelope you, with prose and dialogue that drops you right in the middle of Baxter's beach and the homes and communities of the rich and poor respectively; the actions that lead to poor decisions, that then cascade down and outward unraveling and revealing the connections that join our players in ways known and unknown to each other.
Lala wants to lead a life her way and not how her grandmother says and when she marries Adan, along the way she wonders who he is and who she is becoming. Living a life waiting on the jaws of the law to reach them, clamping down and cutting her off from her freedom, and when tragedy strikes, Lala knows that she has to escape now before it is too late.
It is an exploration of what forces join strangers in a community, an island where there is a clear line of who has and who has to struggle, but the hand of fate will always be there to stir it all up like a good pot of Satday soup. What I could have done without is a few tropes that are too often used with respect to the Caribbean sphere. You will know when you see it.
Big ups to the narrator who definitely captured the lilt and tone of bajans.
Jones has written a narrative that is wholly Caribbean and so familiar. The relationships, interactions, existence, friendships, families, and experiences of each and every character. The deftness with which she layered each characters' stories was smooth and served to sweep the reader from house to road to beach to rich to poor and back again.
It is bursting with life, peopled with characters with attitudes that reach from the page and envelope you, with prose and dialogue that drops you right in the middle of Baxter's beach and the homes and communities of the rich and poor respectively; the actions that lead to poor decisions, that then cascade down and outward unraveling and revealing the connections that join our players in ways known and unknown to each other.
Lala wants to lead a life her way and not how her grandmother says and when she marries Adan, along the way she wonders who he is and who she is becoming. Living a life waiting on the jaws of the law to reach them, clamping down and cutting her off from her freedom, and when tragedy strikes, Lala knows that she has to escape now before it is too late.
It is an exploration of what forces join strangers in a community, an island where there is a clear line of who has and who has to struggle, but the hand of fate will always be there to stir it all up like a good pot of Satday soup. What I could have done without is a few tropes that are too often used with respect to the Caribbean sphere. You will know when you see it.
Big ups to the narrator who definitely captured the lilt and tone of bajans.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, and Child abuse
thebakerbookworm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A hard story with some achingly compelling characters, this book feels like poetry. The setting is vivid, and it portrays a sharp contrast between rich and poor, black and white, woman and man. The title comes from a legend that Lala's grandmother tells her at the beginning, a cautionary tale that underlies the entire book. The story also explores how violence effects different people's lives.
We get several perspectives, and each new perspective adds a new layer to the story, giving complexity to every character, even those that at first appear to be minor. Connections between characters slowly unfold, as the timeline jumps around from present to past. Lala is a strong lead; you feel for her and how she struggles to break out of the life she's trapped in. She's experienced so much tragedy yet is still determined and strong and loving, and I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.
This book was hard to read at times (a lot of tragic backstory), but these characters will grip you and refuse to let go. This is not a story to be forgotten.
I listened to the audio, and the narration was perfection.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Hachette Audio, and the author for the ALC.
We get several perspectives, and each new perspective adds a new layer to the story, giving complexity to every character, even those that at first appear to be minor. Connections between characters slowly unfold, as the timeline jumps around from present to past. Lala is a strong lead; you feel for her and how she struggles to break out of the life she's trapped in. She's experienced so much tragedy yet is still determined and strong and loving, and I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.
This book was hard to read at times (a lot of tragic backstory), but these characters will grip you and refuse to let go. This is not a story to be forgotten.
I listened to the audio, and the narration was perfection.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Hachette Audio, and the author for the ALC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death and Blood
justabooklovingmum's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape
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