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There are so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start.
I've read a lot (a LOT) of books and other material dealing with the intersections of Christianity and sexual orientation, and it pains me to see it dealt with in a smug, black-and-white manner where the Christians are terrible people and don't they know that Jesus taught everyone to love?? The most outspoken homophobes in the book are not misguided but well-meaning Christians; they are a horrifically abusive husband and father, and a preacher's son who's a bully, blackmailer, and a rapist. And the "good guys," who accept Mara and Xylia, are a Native American boy from some unspecified tribe who has some unspecified nature/God/spirit belief, and a hippie mom who has a fascination with goddesses. There is zero nuance in the way Christianity is handled in this book.
The character of Henry was infuriating. He has no identity more specific than that's he's "an Indian" who came from "the reservation," and he has special psychic powers and a deep connection to nature. He finds hawk feathers and blesses them for Mara and her mother. Outside of that he serves no real purpose than as a cockblock for Mara and Xylia for the first half of the book, and then to get blamed for Mara's rape. I did not understand why Mara didn't think she could clear up the accusations against Henry without accusing Elijah. She couldn't have said, "Oh, I said Henry's name because he was the one who found and rescued me. I don't remember (or won't tell you) who actually raped me"?
Going back to horribly vague racial representation, Xylia and her mom were represented as a weird cultural conglomeration, with Xylia's vaguely foreign-sounding name and their house full of African masks and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the mom wearing kimonos all the time. Until Xylia's skin was explicitly described as white I thought maybe she was supposed to multiracial, but no, she just... likes other cultures? Overall I was not impressed by Waters' halfhearted attempts at incorporating racial and cultural diversity into her novel. (Like, were we supposed to assume Keisha was black because of her name? Because she's literally never described.)
Other things I did not like:
-Mara is terrible to her brother. She never accepts him as his brain-damaged self, referring to him multiple times with the r-word and hoping he'll magically return to "normal." She abandons him as soon as she gets some friends, and though she does show some remorse later, he conveniently dies before the end of the book so we never get to see what it would look like for her to have a close relationship with her brother as he is now.
-The plotting was kind of weird. After Xylia leaves there's this long stretch where we don't hear about her much at all, what with Mara getting raped and losing her mind and then Iggy getting kicked out of the house and dying. There's this whole buildup to their relationship for most of the book, and then it's like the plot changes gears and Waters couldn't handle keeping that story arc going except for Xylia to be an eventual escape hatch for Mara.
-For the first part of the book, Mara did not sound like a 16-year-old. She sounded like a 10-year-old. I had a very hard time picturing her as a teenager when she seemed to have minimal self-reflection or maturity.
-There were several references to different things that were just flat-out incorrect. For example, Mara reflects that maybe Persephone returned to the underworld every year because she just loved Hades so much that she would go through hell to be with him, completely disregarding the entire storyline of that myth, that Hades kidnapped Persephone and forced her to marry him and then tricked her into eating some pomegranate seeds so she would never be free from the underworld.
-The editing was also pretty sloppy in places, in the sense that there were easily fixable consistency problems. For example, Mara describes her mom as sitting at the table and putting food on Iggy's plate, then she (Mara) has a conversation with her dad that is interrupted when her mom waltzes back into the room. I read it through several times to make sure I hadn't missed the part where her mom leaves the room (or even the table), but nothing was ever mentioned. This kind of thing happened more than once.
-I did not love that getting raped caused Mara to lose her mind for like two months and then taking a razor to her head caused her to immediately regain her sanity.
Look, I think on a sentence level, Tawni Waters is actually a decent enough writer. I think if she'd been willing to put in a lot more research, particularly around avoiding stereotypes and unnecessarily offensive language, and if she'd been willing to write with more nuance than "look at the bad, hypocritical Christians," she could have written quite a good book. There were some great scenes and some great descriptions, and I just wish they'd been fit into a book that was a better whole.
The character of Henry was infuriating. He has no identity more specific than that's he's "an Indian" who came from "the reservation," and he has special psychic powers and a deep connection to nature. He finds hawk feathers and blesses them for Mara and her mother. Outside of that he serves no real purpose than as a cockblock for Mara and Xylia for the first half of the book, and then to get blamed for Mara's rape. I did not understand why Mara didn't think she could clear up the accusations against Henry without accusing Elijah. She couldn't have said, "Oh, I said Henry's name because he was the one who found and rescued me. I don't remember (or won't tell you) who actually raped me"?
Going back to horribly vague racial representation, Xylia and her mom were represented as a weird cultural conglomeration, with Xylia's vaguely foreign-sounding name and their house full of African masks and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the mom wearing kimonos all the time. Until Xylia's skin was explicitly described as white I thought maybe she was supposed to multiracial, but no, she just... likes other cultures? Overall I was not impressed by Waters' halfhearted attempts at incorporating racial and cultural diversity into her novel. (Like, were we supposed to assume Keisha was black because of her name? Because she's literally never described.)
Other things I did not like:
-Mara is terrible to her brother. She never accepts him as his brain-damaged self, referring to him multiple times with the r-word and hoping he'll magically return to "normal." She abandons him as soon as she gets some friends, and though she does show some remorse later, he conveniently dies before the end of the book so we never get to see what it would look like for her to have a close relationship with her brother as he is now.
-The plotting was kind of weird. After Xylia leaves there's this long stretch where we don't hear about her much at all, what with Mara getting raped and losing her mind and then Iggy getting kicked out of the house and dying. There's this whole buildup to their relationship for most of the book, and then it's like the plot changes gears and Waters couldn't handle keeping that story arc going except for Xylia to be an eventual escape hatch for Mara.
-For the first part of the book, Mara did not sound like a 16-year-old. She sounded like a 10-year-old. I had a very hard time picturing her as a teenager when she seemed to have minimal self-reflection or maturity.
-There were several references to different things that were just flat-out incorrect. For example, Mara reflects that maybe Persephone returned to the underworld every year because she just loved Hades so much that she would go through hell to be with him, completely disregarding the entire storyline of that myth, that Hades kidnapped Persephone and forced her to marry him and then tricked her into eating some pomegranate seeds so she would never be free from the underworld.
-The editing was also pretty sloppy in places, in the sense that there were easily fixable consistency problems. For example, Mara describes her mom as sitting at the table and putting food on Iggy's plate, then she (Mara) has a conversation with her dad that is interrupted when her mom waltzes back into the room. I read it through several times to make sure I hadn't missed the part where her mom leaves the room (or even the table), but nothing was ever mentioned. This kind of thing happened more than once.
-I did not love that getting raped caused Mara to lose her mind for like two months and then taking a razor to her head caused her to immediately regain her sanity.
Look, I think on a sentence level, Tawni Waters is actually a decent enough writer. I think if she'd been willing to put in a lot more research, particularly around avoiding stereotypes and unnecessarily offensive language, and if she'd been willing to write with more nuance than "look at the bad, hypocritical Christians," she could have written quite a good book. There were some great scenes and some great descriptions, and I just wish they'd been fit into a book that was a better whole.
Beauty of the Broken was an unsettling story for me. It is definitely a great one though, worth each of the five stars I can give, but it really crept under my skin.
You have Mara discovering her love for girls, you learn about the background of a family that is scary and heartbreaking. If you want to know what it must feel like to live with a racist, homophobic psychopath, well, here you might get an impression of it. What really got me, were the hatred and violence that were somehow there, even in the relaxed and more romantic moments. There is so much Mara has to fear, and I found it absolutely believable.
After finishing Beauty of the Broken I needed a few days to get enough distance so that I could write anything at all. Actually, a very good sign. I think the book will effect you, it is definitely well-written and a page-turner. The descriptions of violence are still limited, but they were more than enough for me (trigger warning: rape, abuse). Nevertheless, I had to read on, and wanted to know it all. 5 out of 5 stars.
You have Mara discovering her love for girls, you learn about the background of a family that is scary and heartbreaking. If you want to know what it must feel like to live with a racist, homophobic psychopath, well, here you might get an impression of it. What really got me, were the hatred and violence that were somehow there, even in the relaxed and more romantic moments. There is so much Mara has to fear, and I found it absolutely believable.
After finishing Beauty of the Broken I needed a few days to get enough distance so that I could write anything at all. Actually, a very good sign. I think the book will effect you, it is definitely well-written and a page-turner. The descriptions of violence are still limited, but they were more than enough for me (trigger warning: rape, abuse). Nevertheless, I had to read on, and wanted to know it all. 5 out of 5 stars.
damn. this book is a lot. very heavy. very good
this story is more about one girl's experience growing up in a deeply religious rural town with an abusive family than it is romance.
tw abuse, self harm, rape
this story is more about one girl's experience growing up in a deeply religious rural town with an abusive family than it is romance.
tw abuse, self harm, rape
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional rollercoaster to say the least. i've actually read this book a few times now and i love it more each time i read it.
I didn't realize the direction this book would go in. The first half of the book focuses on Mara and her conflicting feelings, but also on her brother Iggy. In a way, I think this book wasn't really about this magical love between these two teenaged girls, but her brother's unconditional love. I read this and couldn't put it down until the acknowledgments.
Because I read this on PulseIt, I think I'm going to have to shell out some cash at some point to get my own copy.
Because I read this on PulseIt, I think I'm going to have to shell out some cash at some point to get my own copy.
This book is so beautifully written, the prose really does flow like poetry and I found myself highlighting page after page, it's obvious that the author is ridiculously talented.
But the story was so awful. Horribly realistic, these things really happen, but it was just one terrible event after another. From the first chapter, it was beautiful and sad and I was hooked. But I read the last quarter of the book with a pit of dread in my stomach that I hoped would go away with some kind of hope or light at the end, but instead I sobbed for the last thirty minutes of reading with absolutely no release. I don't think a book has ever made me so angry! I wanted to scream at the characters and shake them and I wanted bad things to happen to the bad guys and it killed me that they didn't. There are many books I love that make me cry, but this one just left my heart open and aching so drastically that I don't even know if it's a good thing. I guess I'm still kind of in shock.
But the story was so awful. Horribly realistic, these things really happen, but it was just one terrible event after another. From the first chapter, it was beautiful and sad and I was hooked. But I read the last quarter of the book with a pit of dread in my stomach that I hoped would go away with some kind of hope or light at the end, but instead I sobbed for the last thirty minutes of reading with absolutely no release. I don't think a book has ever made me so angry! I wanted to scream at the characters and shake them and I wanted bad things to happen to the bad guys and it killed me that they didn't. There are many books I love that make me cry, but this one just left my heart open and aching so drastically that I don't even know if it's a good thing. I guess I'm still kind of in shock.
This book took me on an emotional roller coaster. It is written from the point of view of a 16 year old girl who has grown up in a conservative, small town. There are complaints about Mara seeming too childish to be 16, but that’s the brilliance of the author…that is on purpose. Mara, growing up in the town she did with the people she did is NOT going to be as smart or advanced or have the critical thinking skills that most of us avid readers have…she’s kind of dumb…that’s not the authors fault that is a side effect of growing up where she does. She’s nice to Henry one second and mean to him the next because she doesn’t know better, not because of poor writing.
The book is advertised as a LGBTQIA+ novel but it is so much more than that. It is the story of a girl who struggles to make sense of her world. The preacher and her dad and Elijah all seem like “evil” people and Iggy and Mara and Xylia all see like “good” people and this isn’t because the author can’t create gray but because MARA can’t create gray…we are looking through her eyes. The eyes of a 16 year old. The eyes of a girl who is struggling to think for herself for the first time in her life. We get to experience that struggle and travel the rough road with her. We get to experience that childlike hope she has each time she thinks her daddy has changed and we get to be “shocked not shocked” when he is exactly who we know him to be. Her mom is great. We are able to tell from her interactions with people and Mara’s internal dialogue that her mom is doing what she needs to stay alive for her kids. She knows she’s a piece of —— mother, but she tries. She fails basically every single time but she tries.
While on the surface this book seems juvenile, under developed, and stereotypical, it’s anything but that. This book has done a phenomenal job at getting into the literal head of an average conservative raised small town girl who has a big town heart. If you thought it was juvenile, if you thought it was under developed, if you thought it was stereotypical, count your lucky stars you’re smart enough to see things like that…Mara didn’t have that luxury. No one in her town does…that’s the point.
The book is advertised as a LGBTQIA+ novel but it is so much more than that. It is the story of a girl who struggles to make sense of her world. The preacher and her dad and Elijah all seem like “evil” people and Iggy and Mara and Xylia all see like “good” people and this isn’t because the author can’t create gray but because MARA can’t create gray…we are looking through her eyes. The eyes of a 16 year old. The eyes of a girl who is struggling to think for herself for the first time in her life. We get to experience that struggle and travel the rough road with her. We get to experience that childlike hope she has each time she thinks her daddy has changed and we get to be “shocked not shocked” when he is exactly who we know him to be. Her mom is great. We are able to tell from her interactions with people and Mara’s internal dialogue that her mom is doing what she needs to stay alive for her kids. She knows she’s a piece of —— mother, but she tries. She fails basically every single time but she tries.
While on the surface this book seems juvenile, under developed, and stereotypical, it’s anything but that. This book has done a phenomenal job at getting into the literal head of an average conservative raised small town girl who has a big town heart. If you thought it was juvenile, if you thought it was under developed, if you thought it was stereotypical, count your lucky stars you’re smart enough to see things like that…Mara didn’t have that luxury. No one in her town does…that’s the point.
This book is unfortunately a lot less about the budding romance or interest between two girls, and a lot more about abuse and rape and more abuse.
I unfortunately did not enjoy this one, as it often felt like the author was trying a little too hard to tug at the heartstrings and pack as much drama into the story as possible. We needed a little sunlight through those clouds.
I unfortunately did not enjoy this one, as it often felt like the author was trying a little too hard to tug at the heartstrings and pack as much drama into the story as possible. We needed a little sunlight through those clouds.
I'm going to do my best to review this book but honestly, I don't even know how to rate it. Hopefully I'll decide once all my thoughts are written down...
Firstly, TW: abuse, self-harm, homophobia, racism, sexual assault
This book is about Mara struggling to live in a conservative town due to the fact that she has fallen in love with a girl. Going into this I assumed there would be more of the relationship between Mara and Xylia but this book heavily focuses on the family. Especially her brother, who developed brain damage because of their dad. I liked reading about it. It was horrendous and upsetting but also well written and I was engaged the entire time. The homophobia she faces is present through the entirety of this novel; as someone who is bisexual I can say that it didn't really upset or tigger me in any way but that is because I was in a very different situation. The preacher and the preachers son felt very cartoony to me (and outdated but that's because I live where this wouldn't happen). However, if you have come from a very conservative, religious background I would be careful going into this book.
I couldn't ever decide whether I liked Mara. I definitely felt for her and was interested in her story but there were time where I just wanted to tell her to shut up. She got overly jealous when Henry spoke to Xylia, muttering to herself that she wished he'd drowned, despite saying how much she's grateful for him two minutes earlier.
Seeing her change and develop the more time she spent away from her family and more time with Xylia made me happy. Mara was also an amazing sister to Iggy.
I still don't know how to rate it... The characters were amazing, the plot was good... There was a few words used (the r-word) that I don't agree with.
2.5/5
Firstly, TW: abuse, self-harm, homophobia, racism, sexual assault
This book is about Mara struggling to live in a conservative town due to the fact that she has fallen in love with a girl. Going into this I assumed there would be more of the relationship between Mara and Xylia but this book heavily focuses on the family. Especially her brother, who developed brain damage because of their dad. I liked reading about it. It was horrendous and upsetting but also well written and I was engaged the entire time. The homophobia she faces is present through the entirety of this novel; as someone who is bisexual I can say that it didn't really upset or tigger me in any way but that is because I was in a very different situation. The preacher and the preachers son felt very cartoony to me (and outdated but that's because I live where this wouldn't happen). However, if you have come from a very conservative, religious background I would be careful going into this book.
I couldn't ever decide whether I liked Mara. I definitely felt for her and was interested in her story but there were time where I just wanted to tell her to shut up. She got overly jealous when Henry spoke to Xylia, muttering to herself that she wished he'd drowned, despite saying how much she's grateful for him two minutes earlier.
Seeing her change and develop the more time she spent away from her family and more time with Xylia made me happy. Mara was also an amazing sister to Iggy.
I still don't know how to rate it... The characters were amazing, the plot was good... There was a few words used (the r-word) that I don't agree with.
2.5/5
I am usually not one to read books that have to do with religion because I myself do not associate with any, so I find books on that subject can get a bit much. But I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up Beauty and the Broken and fell for these characters right from the start.
This story follows Mara a young girl who lives with a very dysfunctional family. I loved Mara's character for the fact that her character is one that you normally do not see in a religious family. She is attracted to girls. I loved this aspect of the story because it not only made Mara a better character by making her different from those around her but I also loved it for the fact that it showcased what a religion can do to those surrounded by it. There are so seeding characters in this book that take their religion and blast it for everyone to hear but in reality they are just as sinful as Mara is claimed to be. The author did an amazing job showcasing the hypocrisy that surrounds those that ostracize others because they do not believe in their lifestyle.
The characters in this book were fantastic and I think the relationhsip between Mara and her brother was my favorite because it started out with him looking out for Mara and ended with Mara taking care of him (you will find out why this change happens in the book). I liked their dynamic and the way they treated each other because it felt real and I could relate to the feelings they were going through, especially when someone treats your sibling a different way. The parents of this story are not likable people, and I am certain they would have had their children taken away in a normal world (i hope) and I think it was this hatred for them that drove the story forward.
There was one incident in the book that made me take a step back though while I was reading and it had to do with rape. I just wasn't a fan of how it was handles as a whole and i know that it made sense for the story for those things to happen and the way Mara chose to deal with it, but I just wasn't a fan. It made me feel a bit icky of you know what i mean.
The only other thing that I wasn't a fan of was the end. I found that there was too much devastation and not enough hope at the end. When I read a book like this one that has so much pain and suffering at the hands of others you want the characters to come out the other side okay, and I did not get as great a feeling at the end, and I wish I had seen more hope for Mara and the life she will lea after the last page.
Overall the writing in this book was absolutely outstanding and i loved the prose so much. The author has a way of sucking you in with great characters and situations that you cannot let slip away and I loved reading every page of this book. There were just a few issues with certain scenes and the end that made me lower my overall rating, but seriously this book will change you. It delves deep into a life I hope no one has to deal with, ever, but I know exists. And I thank the author for highlighting it in this book.
This story follows Mara a young girl who lives with a very dysfunctional family. I loved Mara's character for the fact that her character is one that you normally do not see in a religious family. She is attracted to girls. I loved this aspect of the story because it not only made Mara a better character by making her different from those around her but I also loved it for the fact that it showcased what a religion can do to those surrounded by it. There are so seeding characters in this book that take their religion and blast it for everyone to hear but in reality they are just as sinful as Mara is claimed to be. The author did an amazing job showcasing the hypocrisy that surrounds those that ostracize others because they do not believe in their lifestyle.
The characters in this book were fantastic and I think the relationhsip between Mara and her brother was my favorite because it started out with him looking out for Mara and ended with Mara taking care of him (you will find out why this change happens in the book). I liked their dynamic and the way they treated each other because it felt real and I could relate to the feelings they were going through, especially when someone treats your sibling a different way. The parents of this story are not likable people, and I am certain they would have had their children taken away in a normal world (i hope) and I think it was this hatred for them that drove the story forward.
There was one incident in the book that made me take a step back though while I was reading and it had to do with rape. I just wasn't a fan of how it was handles as a whole and i know that it made sense for the story for those things to happen and the way Mara chose to deal with it, but I just wasn't a fan. It made me feel a bit icky of you know what i mean.
The only other thing that I wasn't a fan of was the end. I found that there was too much devastation and not enough hope at the end. When I read a book like this one that has so much pain and suffering at the hands of others you want the characters to come out the other side okay, and I did not get as great a feeling at the end, and I wish I had seen more hope for Mara and the life she will lea after the last page.
Overall the writing in this book was absolutely outstanding and i loved the prose so much. The author has a way of sucking you in with great characters and situations that you cannot let slip away and I loved reading every page of this book. There were just a few issues with certain scenes and the end that made me lower my overall rating, but seriously this book will change you. It delves deep into a life I hope no one has to deal with, ever, but I know exists. And I thank the author for highlighting it in this book.