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A review by literarylover37
Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
3.0
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book!
So this is a tough one to review so let me take the easy route and start with a summary. The book is written 3rd person and rotates between focusing on four different girls who live in this island community. In this community, which is set at some point in the future (it's hinted that something terrible happened in the world, we're never really told what because the girl's never really know), families live in a very rigid social structure. They each worship one of the "ancestors" that started the island group, couples are not allowed to have more than 2 children, many "defective" children are born, and OH. During the summers all of the younger kids, including girls who haven't started menstruation, live outside and run wild. Once a girl starts her cycle though, that following summer is her summer of "fruition" and she travels with all of the other girls in the same position from house to house for a month meeting, seducing and in some cases being drugged into meeting prospective spouses who are 17 years and older. Girls do go to school but it's not really clear why honestly. Also once people can't work and are too "old" (about 40) they commit suicide together. SUPER!
This is not an easy read. It is well written but the topics it focuses on are hard to swallow and the feeling of dis-ease I had when reading it was compounded when my suspicions about the skeeviness of this society were confirmed. I felt like it was definitely unique though and even when the plot started to drag, I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the conclusion but I'm also pretty sure I couldn't get an ending I liked to a book I didn't entirely enjoy. Good speculative dystopian fiction but should come with plenty of trigger warnings.
So this is a tough one to review so let me take the easy route and start with a summary. The book is written 3rd person and rotates between focusing on four different girls who live in this island community. In this community, which is set at some point in the future (it's hinted that something terrible happened in the world, we're never really told what because the girl's never really know), families live in a very rigid social structure. They each worship one of the "ancestors" that started the island group, couples are not allowed to have more than 2 children, many "defective" children are born, and OH
Spoiler
THE FATHERS HAVE SEX WITH THE DAUGHTERS UNTIL THEY ARE MARRIED AT 13 OR SO!!!This is not an easy read. It is well written but the topics it focuses on are hard to swallow and the feeling of dis-ease I had when reading it was compounded when my suspicions about the skeeviness of this society were confirmed. I felt like it was definitely unique though and even when the plot started to drag, I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the conclusion but I'm also pretty sure I couldn't get an ending I liked to a book I didn't entirely enjoy. Good speculative dystopian fiction but should come with plenty of trigger warnings.