Reviews - The Sound of Gravel

1.64k reviews for:

The Sound of Gravel

Ruth Wariner

4.28 AVERAGE

avijade83's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring medium-paced

lisaataloss's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional reflective sad fast-paced

This was a quick listen. I had a hard time putting it down. I've worked with poverty, DV, and religion throughout my professional life. It was predictable if you're familiar with how the 3 often interact. Ruth was able to tell her story in a way that was easy to follow, despite the constant chaos.

eweber8214's review against another edition

3.25

emotional sad slow-paced

meganaamodt's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

cecymorales's review against another edition

4.0

This was such a sad read. Like, I genuinely just kept reading and hoping that this girl and her siblings would get a damn break for once! Ruth endured so many things that no child should ever have to experience, yet she remained brave through it all. I literally feel so mad at every adult ever for failing her over and over again, but I'm so glad that she and her siblings are still close and happy now :')

tw: csa, dv

ashreadsitall's review against another edition

4.0

Easy, captivating read about polygamy and a young girl brave enough to leave her colony as a teenager.

csnimphius's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional sad fast-paced

meanieheadbookreviews's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense

I’ve been eyeballing this memoir for a while. The author was raised in and escaped from a polygamous Mormon cult in LeBaron, Mexico. I have a weird fascination with fundamentalist cults. I can’t explain it. It makes me rage so hard. Maybe it’s a cathartic way for me to let anger out. This was a pretty emotional read, and it provided really good insight into the kind of jilted childhood a person in these circumstances experiences. The author was an eldest daughter, so you can imagine the content when it comes to parentification and religious trauma. I was so incredibly frustrated with the mother figure in this book; the depiction of parental denial and delusion in the face of domestic abuse was really genuine and well done. The father figure was also awful, as you can guess, but expectedly so. I’d recommend this one.

anna_marie_g's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

Content Warnings

amandashields94's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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