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liesthemoontells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Saying that you wish a book had been a different book/that a story had been told differently feels like a cop-out in a review. An author chooses the story they want to tell, and that is the story the reader receives. Amanda Peters wanted to tell the story of two siblings who were torn apart by an awful act, and how the trauma of that act was mirrored throughout their lives into adulthood and middle age.
The problems with this are that a) the drama of the book lags in the middle as the two characters move away from their traumatic childhood, before the reckoning of mortality brings them back to it in middle age, and b) the story of Joe is ultimately not as strong or believable as that of Norma's. I think this would have been a better book had it concentrated only on Ruthie's disappearance, or
Similarly, I think a multiplicity of viewpoints, such as the other siblings, or the parents, or the Ellises who owned the berry farm, would have made the story stronger.
The highlight of this book for me was the way Peters wrote the complicated, twisted, guilt-ridden love between Norma and her mother. It was painful, heartwrenching, and rang utterly true.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide
kappafrog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This story is a heartbreaking look at the effect the Sixties Scoop had on Indigenous people in Canada. While this wasn't exactly like the typical Sixties Scoop - where the taking of children was sanctioned by child welfare services - it explored how much that sort of forced interracial adoption fractured family and individual identities. It's estimated that 20,000 Indigenous children were forcibly relocated during the Scoop, so the emotions that Ruthie and her family went through in this book are far from unique.
At times I wondered why we were spending so much time with Joe. His story was interesting to read, but I finished the book with so many unanswered questions about the fallout with Norma
The book could have dug a little deeper on a few of its themes.
The above are all just things I wish we could have seen more of. I do have one criticism of the book aside from that though. I really didn't like how Norma's mother Lenore played into stereotypes about manipulative people with migraines. Her migraines were her key emotional manipulation tactic, and I really didn't appreciate that. While it's something that could certainly happen, one of the reasons that migraine isn't taken seriously as the massively debilitating disease it is is that people see it as something women fake to get out of things they don't want to do. There's plenty of research showing that. So, as someone whose life has been badly affected by chronic migraine (and OCD, which Norma's mother was also possibly implied to have), I didn't love that the author used this trope. It wasn't a dealbreaker, since it was technically plausible (migraine can be triggered by emotional upset), and the main characters in the novel were suffering from so many worse societal ills, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book. It is a heavy read, but it really shines in moments like the descriptions of the landscape and people's connections to it and Joe's memories of his sister. It provided insights into a way of life unknown to most people (including me) by exploring the social and economic realities of life for itinerant Indigenous berry pickers in Canada and Maine. While there were things I would have liked to see it explore more, it was a fantastic debut, and I look forward to seeing more from this author.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Genocide, Homophobia, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Vomit
mdavis26's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
alexisgarcia's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism