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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
A dystopian world that doesn't feel too far removed from our own. This is the type of story about colonialism, bodily control, and racism that I feel would be much more effective to teach in schools over Handmaid's Tale (in terms of real life applicability). A little more dialogue heavy than I usually like in a book, but I couldn't put it down - fast paced plot, gripping, gutting and very, very full lives portrayed.
A lot of things I love!
Canadian, dystopian, coming of age.
A powerful book about colonialism, race, and capitalism.
Scary in connection to our present reality.
Canadian, dystopian, coming of age.
A powerful book about colonialism, race, and capitalism.
Scary in connection to our present reality.
This book ticks all the boxes of social commentary and leaves you wondering if our society is really any different.
(2.5/5, rounded up) I had really high hopes for this book as I'd heard so much about it, but I just couldn't get into it. The setting is a heavy-handed analogy of slavery: people from the Gutter are born into a system where they are indebted from birth, carrying their parents' debts after their deaths, a neverending cycle of indentured servitude and brutality. Sure, an edgy setting if you're a reader who literally knew nothing about slavery before reading this novel.
I'm usually pretty good about unlikeable protagonists, but Elimina just frustrated me at every turn. Yes, she's in a system that's drastically stacked against her, but the choices she makes in her personal life just made me want to scream. The "twist" was also really predictable because well, what *else* could have happened to a naive and oppressed young woman? This book was just not for me.
I'm usually pretty good about unlikeable protagonists, but Elimina just frustrated me at every turn. Yes, she's in a system that's drastically stacked against her, but the choices she makes in her personal life just made me want to scream. The "twist" was also really predictable because well, what *else* could have happened to a naive and oppressed young woman? This book was just not for me.
I enjoyed this. Gutter Child is an exploration of institutionalized racism, and how factors like where people are born, their families, their status, can decide your fate more than your individual actions. The main character, Elimina, is observant but quite passive as we see her move through different parts of this world because of the decisions of others. We see her learn about the systemic nature of the world she lives in, and how her class - that of one from the Gutter - has doomed her and those she cares about.
I couldn't tell what age group this book is for. It's not a YA book, but it is about very young characters.
I couldn't tell what age group this book is for. It's not a YA book, but it is about very young characters.
The story and the writing are fierce, compelling, rich and textured. Heartbreaking and hopeful this is not a book that will be forgotten soon.
A stunning first novel, “Gutter Child” purports to be set in a dystopian imagined world, but it’s clearly based on the inequities of our own. Richardson’s world is divided between the people who grow up on an island called The Gutter and others who grow up on the Mainland, filled with privilege. Gutter children are taken from their homes at an early age and sent to an academy, where they train for a life of servitude, working off a debt that was assigned to them at birth (one they don’t realize they really can’t work off). Elimina is born in the Gutter, but is one of 100 children who is removed and raised on the Mainland by an adoptive mother as a social experiment to see if Gutter children could actually be assimilated somehow. But when her foster mother dies, she’s thrown back into the regular Gutter track… but along the way she discovers the truth behind this world, and what happened to the other 99 children. As heartbreaking as it was to read at times, I loved Richardson’s writing style and can’t wait for her next one.
Injustice, inequality, racism, segregation, bravery, survival, slavery; I could go on and on. This novel touches on so many issues that have plagued and continue to plague society that I don’t even know where to begin. When I think about what I have read in this novel I feel furious and helpless. I want to be in the story to help change their world, to make a difference, and improve the lives in The Gutter. I want to eliminate all their problems and all the unfairness.
Not far into the novel, I realized I wasn’t reading a work of fiction; I was reading history and current events and I just felt incredibly pissed off. There is nothing portrayed in this novel that has not happened at some point in time throughout history. To make matters worse, many of the injustices in the novel are happening every minute as we go about our day-to-day. I have seen them with my own eyes; racism, gender inequality, mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, government control, and heavy taxation.
Richardson has done an amazing job of awakening the reader’s fighting spirit and has intentionally set out to make this a difficult book to read because life is difficult and has always been difficult. Unfortunately, so many of us choose to look the other way or push the negative aspects of life to the back of our minds instead of going against the grain and standing up for what we believe in. It is so incredibly hard to stand up and speak out because judgment is always upon those who do so, but there are always those few in the crowd who continue to light the torch and keep on marching to make the world a better place for everyone.
Reading this novel during a time of vaccine mandates and freedom convoys has certainly amplified my feelings about it. I was unable to put this book down not because I love the plot and the characters but because this novel speaks the truths of our human situation. This story will always haunt me but I will never love it. Gutter Child is a novel of courage, a novel for the freedom fighting spirit that lives within us all. It is an important novel, one that every man, woman, and child should read to remind them of what has happened, what can happen, and what needs to be done to overcome hardship. Five stars to Gutter Child for making me want to stand up and fight for what’s right.
Not far into the novel, I realized I wasn’t reading a work of fiction; I was reading history and current events and I just felt incredibly pissed off. There is nothing portrayed in this novel that has not happened at some point in time throughout history. To make matters worse, many of the injustices in the novel are happening every minute as we go about our day-to-day. I have seen them with my own eyes; racism, gender inequality, mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, government control, and heavy taxation.
Richardson has done an amazing job of awakening the reader’s fighting spirit and has intentionally set out to make this a difficult book to read because life is difficult and has always been difficult. Unfortunately, so many of us choose to look the other way or push the negative aspects of life to the back of our minds instead of going against the grain and standing up for what we believe in. It is so incredibly hard to stand up and speak out because judgment is always upon those who do so, but there are always those few in the crowd who continue to light the torch and keep on marching to make the world a better place for everyone.
Reading this novel during a time of vaccine mandates and freedom convoys has certainly amplified my feelings about it. I was unable to put this book down not because I love the plot and the characters but because this novel speaks the truths of our human situation. This story will always haunt me but I will never love it. Gutter Child is a novel of courage, a novel for the freedom fighting spirit that lives within us all. It is an important novel, one that every man, woman, and child should read to remind them of what has happened, what can happen, and what needs to be done to overcome hardship. Five stars to Gutter Child for making me want to stand up and fight for what’s right.