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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 ★
Everything about this story appealed to me.
Women living together: check
No men allowed: check
Free to satiate all of your apetites and desires without societal pressures: check
But the entire time, I wanted more.
“What kind of women we were. They never say us in the summer, how we dug our hands into the soil. They never saw the life we had made for ourselves.”
I was given so much detail in the way that the women lived their lives on the farm, both their duties and freedoms. But I was starving for intensity. These women seemed in a daze, lacking in deep emotions, all-consuming conversations of life and womanness. I expected full moon dances and menstrual blood seeping into the grass but these women were happy just lazing around all day.
Spoilt: to diminish or destroy the value or quality of.
They are spoilt creatures. We could have experienced the oneness of this female community and who women truly are when they are alone and empowered by other women.
But these characters are boring, greedy and lazy.
“Knowing that I couldn’t say no, that I would do whatever it took to stay. The same instinct that drove you further inside the house instead of running far away.”
I liked that the story was paralleled with scary movies. How as viewers, we are able to anticipate the horrors that will inevitably happen. I noticed the foreshadowing and metaphors within that gave me an uneasy hint of what’s to come but unfortunately, I don’t feel fully satisfied with what I thought were going to be the horrors of the book. The very slow, drawn out pace gave me high expectations for the climax that should have happened sooner and been more.. I don’t know. Full?
“we were not considered sweet baby angels. No, we were something else. Bad women, disturbed women; psycho bitches.”
Don’t get me wrong, I ate it up. I enjoyed it but I expected more.
“Feral. That was how they liked to imagine us best. Unhinged from societal norms, obscene in our habits. It made them feel better. To think of us as something feral.”
Everything about this story appealed to me.
Women living together: check
No men allowed: check
Free to satiate all of your apetites and desires without societal pressures: check
But the entire time, I wanted more.
“What kind of women we were. They never say us in the summer, how we dug our hands into the soil. They never saw the life we had made for ourselves.”
I was given so much detail in the way that the women lived their lives on the farm, both their duties and freedoms. But I was starving for intensity. These women seemed in a daze, lacking in deep emotions, all-consuming conversations of life and womanness. I expected full moon dances and menstrual blood seeping into the grass but these women were happy just lazing around all day.
Spoilt: to diminish or destroy the value or quality of.
They are spoilt creatures. We could have experienced the oneness of this female community and who women truly are when they are alone and empowered by other women.
But these characters are boring, greedy and lazy.
“Knowing that I couldn’t say no, that I would do whatever it took to stay. The same instinct that drove you further inside the house instead of running far away.”
I liked that the story was paralleled with scary movies. How as viewers, we are able to anticipate the horrors that will inevitably happen. I noticed the foreshadowing and metaphors within that gave me an uneasy hint of what’s to come but unfortunately, I don’t feel fully satisfied with what I thought were going to be the horrors of the book. The very slow, drawn out pace gave me high expectations for the climax that should have happened sooner and been more.. I don’t know. Full?
“we were not considered sweet baby angels. No, we were something else. Bad women, disturbed women; psycho bitches.”
Don’t get me wrong, I ate it up. I enjoyed it but I expected more.
“Feral. That was how they liked to imagine us best. Unhinged from societal norms, obscene in our habits. It made them feel better. To think of us as something feral.”
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed this one. I was hoping it might do something different to other culty books but it follows the obvious route. however I loved the writing and exploration of female relationships (platonic & more), power dynamics & obsession.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Iris feels lost after her break-up with Nathan. As they lived together, she needs a new place to live, and is recommended a house for women that her friend's sister stayed at for a while. That's how she gets to be in Breach House with a group of women, each feeling lost, who are guided by Blythe. But is everything all it's cracked up to be?
We read this for the Women, Eating bookclub, and it was an interesting book to discuss. None of us really loved it, with my personal objection being that the book doesn't deliver on it's promise to be all about female rage, feminism and unhinged girls being holed up in a house somewhere off the grid. It felt like a flat soda, and without the fizz, it just isn't as enjoyable. I have personal issues with the main character's lack of agency, and it made for a frustrating read. While I appreciate that the MC's passivity might be the point of the book, the rest of the book being lacking the punches I was hoping for made it a bit of a disappointment. It made for easy reading though, because I finished the book in no time!
We read this for the Women, Eating bookclub, and it was an interesting book to discuss. None of us really loved it, with my personal objection being that the book doesn't deliver on it's promise to be all about female rage, feminism and unhinged girls being holed up in a house somewhere off the grid. It felt like a flat soda, and without the fizz, it just isn't as enjoyable. I have personal issues with the main character's lack of agency, and it made for a frustrating read. While I appreciate that the MC's passivity might be the point of the book, the rest of the book being lacking the punches I was hoping for made it a bit of a disappointment. It made for easy reading though, because I finished the book in no time!
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Isn't it ironic I didn't realise something was wrong about the commune when I was deep inside the book and (bad) things were about to go down. I had the realisation around the same moment Iris did. Call me naïve, but I'd rather say Amy Twigg is just a brilliant writer who knows how to draw you in and hold you close until it's too late to turn back.
The writing style made everything feel so real. It's as if I felt my skin actually burn from the sunny days Iris spent working the allotment, my muscles straining, my hands bleeding, my back sweating. The way the rain soaked my skin, my socks soggy, and my stomach aching. It was uncomfortable, yet I couldn't stop reading as if I was looking at a car crash that I couldn't drag myself away from.
The writing style made everything feel so real. It's as if I felt my skin actually burn from the sunny days Iris spent working the allotment, my muscles straining, my hands bleeding, my back sweating. The way the rain soaked my skin, my socks soggy, and my stomach aching. It was uncomfortable, yet I couldn't stop reading as if I was looking at a car crash that I couldn't drag myself away from.