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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Trigger warning: religious trauma, sexual assault, domestic violence.
The main character didn’t win me over. I wanted to like her but she made ridiculous choices and it seemed like either she wasn’t very smart or the author was underestimating the ability of her audience to put things together. Regardless, I appreciate that which shines a light on the very real religious trauma that occurs in many churches but specifically the evangelical church, even if it is triggering to read.
The main character didn’t win me over. I wanted to like her but she made ridiculous choices and it seemed like either she wasn’t very smart or the author was underestimating the ability of her audience to put things together. Regardless, I appreciate that which shines a light on the very real religious trauma that occurs in many churches but specifically the evangelical church, even if it is triggering to read.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Woman escapes from religious cult after public humiliation & childhood trauma, returns home after the tragic death of the love of her life. When she can't get any information about what happened and it seems like a crime is being covered up, she decides to stay in what is certainly hell on earth (is this irony?) to "investigate" (a.k.a. poke around and annoy the daylights out of everyone, because everyone in this town hates her). She gets lots of threats, other people get involved, and in a move that surprises no one, the entire thing centers on her former church. Absolute religious insanity ensues.
I love a cult book and this one had just the right about of manipulation and narcissism to tingle my brain in horrible ways. The threats made to the main character are slightly cheesy and overdone and the ending in hindsight is predictable but there was a decent twist in there. I read it in one sitting and it held my attention so I loved that about it. It holds a lot of discourse and ideas about the female body and how females and males function in a skewed world together. Really shows how cult leaders can manipulate very well.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book, and though I did enjoy the setting of a controlling church community and the main theme of religious Christian trauma, the writing style was not for me. There were some great stand-alone lines, and the concept is all too current, but ultimately I didn’t like it as much as I thought that I would.
I just discovered Amy Suiter Clarke a couple months ago when I read GIRL, 11. That book blew me away so much that I immediately searched for all of her work and requested an ARC of LAY YOUR BODY DOWN faster than I've done maybe anything else in my life.
After a few weeks of praying, I was approved! So thank you so much to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC!
LAY YOUR BODY DOWN follows MC Del, who travels back to her small religious town she swore she would never return to after her ex-boyfriend of several years, Lars, tragically dies in a hunting accident. Del starts to question, however, how accidental it actually was.
The center of the town is The Messiah, the town's church that everybody attends. Del's adolescence was spent there, and throughout the novel we learn of many of her memories there - both good and traumatic.
As Del starts to ask questions involving Lars' death, she is met with a lot of pushback from the community - Pastor Rick especially. Could he know more than he's letting on?
First and foremost, I would like to stress how much I appreciated how the spectrum of spirituality was portrayed. Most characters in this story are EXTREMELY religious, to the point where they never question a single aspect of their faith. Others were the complete opposite and have turned their back on faith and God altogether. And then there were some who fell somewhere in between; who believed in God but found the flaws in organized (extremist) religion. I felt it was important to see that in between.
Clarke is so, so good at getting you invested in her characters. Not just in what they're trying to achieve or mystery they're chasing, but in their personal growth. I felt just as eager for Del to find out what happened to Lars as I did for her to heal from her own trauma.
I still have some mixed feelings about the ending - it wasn't a complete shock but it was still shocking? Not sure how to articulate it haha but overall I was satisfied with it.
This novel has cemented Clarke as an auto-buy author for me. I love the complexities of her stories and the layers we work through to get to the ending.
If you love cult vibes & small-town mysteries, I think you'll be a big fan of this one!
After a few weeks of praying, I was approved! So thank you so much to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC!
LAY YOUR BODY DOWN follows MC Del, who travels back to her small religious town she swore she would never return to after her ex-boyfriend of several years, Lars, tragically dies in a hunting accident. Del starts to question, however, how accidental it actually was.
The center of the town is The Messiah, the town's church that everybody attends. Del's adolescence was spent there, and throughout the novel we learn of many of her memories there - both good and traumatic.
As Del starts to ask questions involving Lars' death, she is met with a lot of pushback from the community - Pastor Rick especially. Could he know more than he's letting on?
First and foremost, I would like to stress how much I appreciated how the spectrum of spirituality was portrayed. Most characters in this story are EXTREMELY religious, to the point where they never question a single aspect of their faith. Others were the complete opposite and have turned their back on faith and God altogether. And then there were some who fell somewhere in between; who believed in God but found the flaws in organized (extremist) religion. I felt it was important to see that in between.
Clarke is so, so good at getting you invested in her characters. Not just in what they're trying to achieve or mystery they're chasing, but in their personal growth. I felt just as eager for Del to find out what happened to Lars as I did for her to heal from her own trauma.
I still have some mixed feelings about the ending - it wasn't a complete shock but it was still shocking? Not sure how to articulate it haha but overall I was satisfied with it.
This novel has cemented Clarke as an auto-buy author for me. I love the complexities of her stories and the layers we work through to get to the ending.
If you love cult vibes & small-town mysteries, I think you'll be a big fan of this one!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm always fascinated by cult stories and this one was especially compelling because the cult-like church in the book takes some problematic teaching that definitely exists in many real-life churches and shows how it can be used to manipulate and control people. I appreciated how the author was respectful of Christianity and never made it seem like the the church in the book is how all churches are. I enjoyed how the author included blog posts and diary entries from the past to help tell the characters' backstories. The ending was satisfying, but a little farfetched.