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sbauer2894's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Incest, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pregnancy
rileyharrell's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
WARN SOMEONE NEXT TIME...
Okay I did not NOT like this book, but I did not LIKE this book either. I am unsure about my feelings for this book. This story contains so many trigger warnings that I feel like it isn't the best forum here on Goodreads to even list them all. Anyways this has such a unique writing style that it took me a minute to get into. However, once I did, it went pretty smoothly. Some of the characters were hard to read and follow, so not really sure where their story went. I didn't feel that it was very character-driven or developed, and I felt that it wasn't necessarily plot-driven either? All of the characters, including Lacey May felt really underdeveloped and this book didn't really give them any room to grow. You could tell Bieker really wanted them to grown and definitely gave them an opportunity to do so, but it fell short in the writing of developed characters for sure.
Okay I did not NOT like this book, but I did not LIKE this book either. I am unsure about my feelings for this book. This story contains so many trigger warnings that I feel like it isn't the best forum here on Goodreads to even list them all. Anyways this has such a unique writing style that it took me a minute to get into. However, once I did, it went pretty smoothly. Some of the characters were hard to read and follow, so not really sure where their story went. I didn't feel that it was very character-driven or developed, and I felt that it wasn't necessarily plot-driven either? All of the characters, including Lacey May felt really underdeveloped and this book didn't really give them any room to grow. You could tell Bieker really wanted them to grown and definitely gave them an opportunity to do so, but it fell short in the writing of developed characters for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gun violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
msmoodyreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Reading this novel felt a little like getting slapped in the face. Bieker’s writing causes a sort of numbness, but also a stinging, painful sense of awareness at the same time.
In Godshot, a devastating drought has led the people of Peaches, California to seek out the leadership of Pastor Vern, a charismatic cult leader promising rain and salvation in exchange for unquestioning obedience. Lacey May, our narrator, is just fourteen years old when her mother abandons her to Vern’s cult. Lacey May submits her will to Pastor Vern in a desperate quest for belonging and unconditional love denied to her by her alcoholic mother. In this submission, Lacey and other young women are forced to suffer Vern’s perverse plan in order to return fertility to the land. Shocked into awareness, Lacey seeks to reveal Pastor Vern’s unthinkable plan.
Godshot is, in large part, about complicated female relationships, and the ways in which out of those complicated relationships, we often find our own families, getting the love and support we’re missing. Bieker also takes on the ways in which group think, especially religious group think, is harmful to society at large, and especially for women and girls. Godshot reminded me a lot of The Handmaid’s Tale, but with a contemporary setting rather than a futuristic one.
Bieker’s writing style is really unusual, and it took me some time to fall into the rhythm of her cadence. The characters are well written: round and fully characterized. The cult members, Grandma Cherry in particular, are characterized very realistically, but with a strange quirkiness.
The abuse Lacey experiences is incredibly difficult to read about. I was only able to read short amounts at a time, and I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it until about the halfway mark. In the end, I found Godshot an incredibly moving, thought-provoking, and unique work that I highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide, Trafficking, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism
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