A review by eena
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Reading this book reminded me why I never want to read A Little Life. I purchased this book because it’s in the secondhand section and the bookshop staff told me that it’s her favourite read of the year, which made me just buy it and not read anything about it, so I guess the lesson is to always read the content warnings.

The writing is without a doubt beautiful. I also appreciated that this is written in a child’s point of view to show how a child could truly be helpless in this messed up world. Growing up with Betty through these pages made me feel like I’m grappling for air with every page I turn and that’s the reason why I gave this book 2.5 stars only.

I’m honestly afraid to rate it because it’s semi biographical and inspired by the author’s mother and I’m afraid to judge a somehow real life story because what if big chunks of it were reality. However, parts of it are still fiction and maybe it’s just not my preference to have one trauma over the other that I don’t know what to do with those experiences I’ve read anymore. So yeah I guess the rating is on the lower end too because it should have had content warnings, majority of the book is packed with triggering things, from animal abuse, SA, racist attacks, and anything you can think of. These traumatic experiences didn’t fully serve a strong purpose like a lot of it were just thrown to either give a shock or that certain feeling that a lot of readers crave for.

I wanted to love this book, I really do, but despite the devastating things that happened there wasn’t a strong new lesson in life that I can carry. I also thought that there will be a lot of things that I’ll learn from the author’s culture but they were just fragments and most of them we already know about.
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