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A review by twellz
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
5.0
Betty is a slow burn…but keep reading because it is an incredible story that will touch your soul forever! It’s brutal & beautiful all at the same time. This book is written like a memoir, however the author, Tiffany McDaniel, is writing about her mother, Betty Carpenter (it’s a true story). What I liked the most was that it reads like poetry & captures her grandfather Landon’s Native American spirit.
“There are folks always reachin’ for the sky, too large for our world, like giant sequoias,” he said, stretching his arms up over his head as we sat at his feet in wonder. “Some people are as beautiful and soft as peonies, others as hard as a mountain. You’ll need to watch out for those who spread gossip as easily as dandelions spread their seed,” he said. “But really keep an eye on the ones who live on decay, like the fungus that grows on hurt or weak trees.”
Betty’s relationship with her Cherokee father was nothing short of heart warming. It’s a coming-of-age story & Betty is the 6th of 8 kids, but looks the most like her father….dark & Native American. She grew up in the 1950’s-70’s in a small southern Ohio town called Breathed…amid poverty, violence & racism. The events we learn about are at times so ugly that you feel guilty for knowing these truths. You will feel deeply about each of Betty’s family members: Landon, Lint, Trustin, Fraya, Flossie & her mother, Alka. Betty is beautiful inside and out & her strength is embedded through heritage.
“…All we can do is try to heal the things that can be healed and ease the complaints of the things that cannot be. At the very least, we bring the earth inside us and restore the knowledge that even the smallest leaf has a soul.”
Betty is the type of hard-to-hear tale yet is necessary…like these books I’ve read: Educated, The Glass Castle or the Sound of Gravel. I highly recommend this novel, but get your Kleenex ready…it’s not a beach read type book. Finally a story that doesn't blame anyone, just exposes the blame & the reasons.
“Times will never be the same, so we give time another beautiful name until it’s easier to carry as we go on remembering where it is we’ve come from.”
“There are folks always reachin’ for the sky, too large for our world, like giant sequoias,” he said, stretching his arms up over his head as we sat at his feet in wonder. “Some people are as beautiful and soft as peonies, others as hard as a mountain. You’ll need to watch out for those who spread gossip as easily as dandelions spread their seed,” he said. “But really keep an eye on the ones who live on decay, like the fungus that grows on hurt or weak trees.”
Betty’s relationship with her Cherokee father was nothing short of heart warming. It’s a coming-of-age story & Betty is the 6th of 8 kids, but looks the most like her father….dark & Native American. She grew up in the 1950’s-70’s in a small southern Ohio town called Breathed…amid poverty, violence & racism. The events we learn about are at times so ugly that you feel guilty for knowing these truths. You will feel deeply about each of Betty’s family members: Landon, Lint, Trustin, Fraya, Flossie & her mother, Alka. Betty is beautiful inside and out & her strength is embedded through heritage.
“…All we can do is try to heal the things that can be healed and ease the complaints of the things that cannot be. At the very least, we bring the earth inside us and restore the knowledge that even the smallest leaf has a soul.”
Betty is the type of hard-to-hear tale yet is necessary…like these books I’ve read: Educated, The Glass Castle or the Sound of Gravel. I highly recommend this novel, but get your Kleenex ready…it’s not a beach read type book. Finally a story that doesn't blame anyone, just exposes the blame & the reasons.
“Times will never be the same, so we give time another beautiful name until it’s easier to carry as we go on remembering where it is we’ve come from.”