222 reviews for:

The Forgotten Home Child

Genevieve Graham

4.28 AVERAGE

dennyhb's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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: No

elizabethbaden13's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

jerbear2800's review against another edition

4.75

hopeful informative sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

thistlereads's review against another edition

3.0

emotional informative sad slow-paced

maddiet425's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was not the greatest book I’ve ever read, but it kept me interested, was about a historical topic that needs more attention, and had some amazing plot twists. Overall, exactly what I look for in historical fiction

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

bookthia's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous informative fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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So right around the same time that the Canadian government was ripping First Nations children away from their families and placing them in abusive institutions, it was also supporting a private program that took orphaned poor white kids out of London and shipped them here as “farm labour”.  I knew about Home Children.  But I didn’t know that the program lasted 80 years and included over 120,000 children. Another shameful chapter in Canadian colonialism.  

Parts of this book were quite good. I liked the main plot line of the Home Children — Winny, Mary, Jack, Edward and Cecil, their lives in London and in Canada.  But after awhile, their experiences felt over sentimentalized — almost maudlin in parts. Like all the bad things happened to these 5 kids. 

Also, the modern timeline of Winny as an old woman telling her story to her grandchildren was ok as a narrative structure but it became bogged down in the side plot of Billy’s disappearance. That whole Billy disappearance was a sentimental distraction that didn’t add anything to the story of Home Children.  I expect it was an attempt at demonstrating generational trauma but it didn’t work.

Still, if this story helps people learn about this sad chapter in Canadian history— and maybe even their own family histories — then it’s a good thing.

lisajh5858's review against another edition

3.0

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault

ilikecows321's review

4.5

emotional informative sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

susanknights's review

4.75

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War

cassidypamela's review against another edition

5.0

emotional sad 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