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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Whenever I find myself unable to put into words what I liked or disliked about a book, I’ll head to the 2 and 3 star ratings to see if anyone else has managed to capture my feelings on paper. Having felt that way about Gutter Child, I was really surprised by how many people kept comparing this to a YA dystopian, akin to The Hunger Games. While I’m still not 100% sure how to explain how I felt this book, I can say with absolute certainty that I wholeheartedly disagree with it being better suited to a YA audience.
Where YA excels is in how deeply the characters feel everything - often to the chagrin of older readers, who find the angst a bit melodramatic. I didn’t get that level of emotion from Gutter Child. Rather than reading this and feeling like I was reading the words of a teenager, I instead felt like I was having the older version of herself tell me her story; there was a level of detachment, a sense that enough time had passed to lessen the emotional impact of certain events, which kept me from really connecting with any of the characters.
Split into three distinct periods of her life, I found I really enjoyed how the plot progressed and how we gleaned more about the truth behind the gutter system with each new period. While the first history lesson bordered on info-dumping, it was interesting enough that it didn’t bother me too much. I struggled with the time period though - is this supposed to be set in a modern world? They had running water, electricity and a transit system, but there was no mention of phones and long-distance communication was through written letters.
I also struggled with the dialogue. It was very repetitive, and the use of everyone’s name in casual conversation felt so unnatural.
Despite saying I liked how the plot progressed earlier, I think my biggest problem with this was the plot. Other than showing the life of someone from the gutter, I’m not sure what the point was. We didn’t really see much by character growth or development, there wasn’t a message that I walked away with that felt new or original, and the ending was so rushed I thought I had accidentally skipped ahead and missed something important that tied a few things up. I’m not opposed to open endings - sometimes I even prefer them. But this is not one I’ll think back on to puzzle out; it just feels unfinished.
Where YA excels is in how deeply the characters feel everything - often to the chagrin of older readers, who find the angst a bit melodramatic. I didn’t get that level of emotion from Gutter Child. Rather than reading this and feeling like I was reading the words of a teenager, I instead felt like I was having the older version of herself tell me her story; there was a level of detachment, a sense that enough time had passed to lessen the emotional impact of certain events, which kept me from really connecting with any of the characters.
Split into three distinct periods of her life, I found I really enjoyed how the plot progressed and how we gleaned more about the truth behind the gutter system with each new period. While the first history lesson bordered on info-dumping, it was interesting enough that it didn’t bother me too much. I struggled with the time period though - is this supposed to be set in a modern world? They had running water, electricity and a transit system, but there was no mention of phones and long-distance communication was through written letters.
I also struggled with the dialogue. It was very repetitive, and the use of everyone’s name in casual conversation felt so unnatural.
Despite saying I liked how the plot progressed earlier, I think my biggest problem with this was the plot. Other than showing the life of someone from the gutter, I’m not sure what the point was. We didn’t really see much by character growth or development, there wasn’t a message that I walked away with that felt new or original, and the ending was so rushed I thought I had accidentally skipped ahead and missed something important that tied a few things up. I’m not opposed to open endings - sometimes I even prefer them. But this is not one I’ll think back on to puzzle out; it just feels unfinished.
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
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
The ending felt a little too rushed to be five stars but very good aside from that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Suicide
Content warning: death of a parent, racism, hate crime, mental illness, suicide, infant death, death of a child, miscarriage, sexual assault
Jael Richardson’s debut dystopian fiction novel Gutter Child has gained traction on Instagram making it a popular choice among readers on the internet. Gutter Child is set in a dystopian world that is divided into the privileged Mainland and the Gutter, a heavily policed area. Elimina was one of 100 children taken from the Gutter and raised by a Mainland woman. After her Mainland mother dies, Ellimina finally begins to learn about the truth of the Gutter and where she is from.
While it is a timely read, Gutter Child missed the mark for me in some aspects. The characters lacked development and were quite one dimensional. Elimina was the exception to this, she was well fleshed out and quite interesting to read about. Along with lack of characterization the plot felt a little all over the place and the dialogue was quite repetitive at times.There was also a lot of time jumping and it wasn’t always clear until well into a section. To be honest I was quite bored reading this one.
Gutter Child touches on a lot of timely and important themes including race, class, privilege, identity, and colonization. Richardson has done a fantastic job at making these themes present all throughout the novel which encourages conversations between readers. The writing read more like a young adult book than general fiction. My expectations were high with this one but Gutter Child just didn’t hold my interest like other books I’ve read this year. Even though it was not my favourite, Gutter Child is incredibly timely and recommended to those who enjoy young adult fiction and coming-of-age stories.
Originally published on From Seed to Blossom, link below:
https://fromseedtoblossom.wixsite.com/website/post/gutter-child-review
Jael Richardson’s debut dystopian fiction novel Gutter Child has gained traction on Instagram making it a popular choice among readers on the internet. Gutter Child is set in a dystopian world that is divided into the privileged Mainland and the Gutter, a heavily policed area. Elimina was one of 100 children taken from the Gutter and raised by a Mainland woman. After her Mainland mother dies, Ellimina finally begins to learn about the truth of the Gutter and where she is from.
While it is a timely read, Gutter Child missed the mark for me in some aspects. The characters lacked development and were quite one dimensional. Elimina was the exception to this, she was well fleshed out and quite interesting to read about. Along with lack of characterization the plot felt a little all over the place and the dialogue was quite repetitive at times.There was also a lot of time jumping and it wasn’t always clear until well into a section. To be honest I was quite bored reading this one.
Gutter Child touches on a lot of timely and important themes including race, class, privilege, identity, and colonization. Richardson has done a fantastic job at making these themes present all throughout the novel which encourages conversations between readers. The writing read more like a young adult book than general fiction. My expectations were high with this one but Gutter Child just didn’t hold my interest like other books I’ve read this year. Even though it was not my favourite, Gutter Child is incredibly timely and recommended to those who enjoy young adult fiction and coming-of-age stories.
Originally published on From Seed to Blossom, link below:
https://fromseedtoblossom.wixsite.com/website/post/gutter-child-review
I was really looking forward to this book as the premise sounded interesting. I felt that it had good moments and then others that were sort of flat where I was hoping for more emotion. The writing was simplistic and as it was a coming of age story I think it has a bit more YA attributes (with some minor harsher topics) than it did adult fiction.