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A review by alexiacambaling
All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
5.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Edelweiss.
Trigger warning/s: Rape, Abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Incest
This review contains mild spoilers.
This was one of the best books I’ve read in 2019. I read it while waiting for one of my classes to start and finished it in about two hours. I devoured this book, it kept me hooked and reading. It was that good. It was powerful and devastating, an incredibly feminist book that touches upon generations of women being subjected to abuse at the hands of men and a society hostile to women considered “different”.
All the Bad Apples is an incredibly powerful and gripping story about the three Rhys sisters, three sisters haunted by a family curse involving the women in their family. Deena’s sister Rachel had been the one to raise her, trying to make Deena a prim and proper lady so that she wouldn’t be a “bad apple” like her sister Mandy. So that she wouldn’t hear the banshees screaming. Then one day, Deena comes out, she is bullied at her all-girls Catholic school, and Mandy disappears.
Reading this book made me feel so many emotions, mostly sadness and rage. Sadness because it was very hard to read. Compelling, yes but quite difficult because of the subject matter. I felt rage too, because the things this book touches upon continues to happen to this day. It sometimes feels like a reflection, a meditation on the things that women have faced in the past, and the challenges they continue to face today.
Most of the issues touched upon this book pertain to women’s sexuality. Over the centuries, women’s sexualities have been subject to much scrutiny and disdain. Women get abandoned by their lovers and thrown away as though they are trash. Women get slut-shamed and blamed for their own abuse, for their rape, and stigmatized. Instead of the rapist being brought to justice, the women are made to suffer. If they get pregnant, they get sent away to a laundry where they were made to endure involuntary solitude and their babies ripped away after. It was hard to keep my tears at bay as I read. Reading the historical accounts of the Magdalene laundries was worse. These women didn’t deserve the horrible things that happened to them and knowing that this happens in many places around the world was even worse.
The book was told alternating between the past and present as Deena and her friends uncover the secrets of her family’s past. It’s an incredibly effective way of telling the story and it made me fly through the chapters to see what happens next. The magical realism style of the book also works, as until the last third or so, it was very low-key and easy to miss. The way the book was written was very powerful and gripping and the fast pace of the story makes it easy to get through the pages in an afternoon or so.
The characters are also incredibly well-written. Deena and her group of friends are now my favorites and I liked how queer this group is. Some of them, like Deena, clearly grapple with it as a result of the homophobia she faced, but I’m glad to see her slowly become more comfortable with it as time goes on. Also, I did like that one of her ancestors was a queer woman, but I cried when I read what happened to her after. It was so unfair that it happened but this book wasn’t shy when it comes to suffering.
The story of Deena’s “sisters” was also shown here and it was just so unfortunate and unfair that so many women from the same family had to experience so much pain and hardship. I gained so much more appreciation for Rachel and Mandy once I learned about their backstories and it makes you really see how strong women are and can be. These women weren’t strong because of their trauma- they were already strong to begin with.
Ultimately, this is a story of generations of women bound by blood and the circumstances they found themselves in. This is the story of a family of women who suffered often at the hands of the people they loved- whether it be their own parents or their significant others. It was also a story about the strength of these women and their determination to ensure that the things that were portrayed here wouldn’t have to happen again. It’s an incredibly powerful story about love, loss, and being able to rise up from their pain. I don’t know if I can recommend this book to everyone. I don’t think it would be for everyone as it can be very triggering to a lot of people. The content is harsh and bad things happen a lot. However, if you can get past the triggers in this book, then I can definitely recommend it.
Trigger warning/s: Rape, Abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Incest
This review contains mild spoilers.
This was one of the best books I’ve read in 2019. I read it while waiting for one of my classes to start and finished it in about two hours. I devoured this book, it kept me hooked and reading. It was that good. It was powerful and devastating, an incredibly feminist book that touches upon generations of women being subjected to abuse at the hands of men and a society hostile to women considered “different”.
All the Bad Apples is an incredibly powerful and gripping story about the three Rhys sisters, three sisters haunted by a family curse involving the women in their family. Deena’s sister Rachel had been the one to raise her, trying to make Deena a prim and proper lady so that she wouldn’t be a “bad apple” like her sister Mandy. So that she wouldn’t hear the banshees screaming. Then one day, Deena comes out, she is bullied at her all-girls Catholic school, and Mandy disappears.
Reading this book made me feel so many emotions, mostly sadness and rage. Sadness because it was very hard to read. Compelling, yes but quite difficult because of the subject matter. I felt rage too, because the things this book touches upon continues to happen to this day. It sometimes feels like a reflection, a meditation on the things that women have faced in the past, and the challenges they continue to face today.
Most of the issues touched upon this book pertain to women’s sexuality. Over the centuries, women’s sexualities have been subject to much scrutiny and disdain. Women get abandoned by their lovers and thrown away as though they are trash. Women get slut-shamed and blamed for their own abuse, for their rape, and stigmatized. Instead of the rapist being brought to justice, the women are made to suffer. If they get pregnant, they get sent away to a laundry where they were made to endure involuntary solitude and their babies ripped away after. It was hard to keep my tears at bay as I read. Reading the historical accounts of the Magdalene laundries was worse. These women didn’t deserve the horrible things that happened to them and knowing that this happens in many places around the world was even worse.
The book was told alternating between the past and present as Deena and her friends uncover the secrets of her family’s past. It’s an incredibly effective way of telling the story and it made me fly through the chapters to see what happens next. The magical realism style of the book also works, as until the last third or so, it was very low-key and easy to miss. The way the book was written was very powerful and gripping and the fast pace of the story makes it easy to get through the pages in an afternoon or so.
The characters are also incredibly well-written. Deena and her group of friends are now my favorites and I liked how queer this group is. Some of them, like Deena, clearly grapple with it as a result of the homophobia she faced, but I’m glad to see her slowly become more comfortable with it as time goes on. Also, I did like that one of her ancestors was a queer woman, but I cried when I read what happened to her after. It was so unfair that it happened but this book wasn’t shy when it comes to suffering.
The story of Deena’s “sisters” was also shown here and it was just so unfortunate and unfair that so many women from the same family had to experience so much pain and hardship. I gained so much more appreciation for Rachel and Mandy once I learned about their backstories and it makes you really see how strong women are and can be. These women weren’t strong because of their trauma- they were already strong to begin with.
Ultimately, this is a story of generations of women bound by blood and the circumstances they found themselves in. This is the story of a family of women who suffered often at the hands of the people they loved- whether it be their own parents or their significant others. It was also a story about the strength of these women and their determination to ensure that the things that were portrayed here wouldn’t have to happen again. It’s an incredibly powerful story about love, loss, and being able to rise up from their pain. I don’t know if I can recommend this book to everyone. I don’t think it would be for everyone as it can be very triggering to a lot of people. The content is harsh and bad things happen a lot. However, if you can get past the triggers in this book, then I can definitely recommend it.