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A review by shelby1994
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“Some people are as beautiful and soft as peonies, others as hard as a mountain. You’ll come across those who are so unforgettable, they’ll leave a rash on your memory as poison ivy does your skin.”
Everyone told me that I would weep when I read this, but it was only in the last few chapters that the dam broke. McDaniel’s Betty scribbles down the life of the women and men in her family in between soothing the fears and insecurities of her living siblings and trying to hold onto the memories of her dead ones. Throughout, the Ohio hills watch over her. The people within them may hurt her, but the hills protect the legends and the spirit of the children who are darker than their white neighbors would like and who are struggling to understand their connection to the natural world of their Cherokee ancestors.
The only reason this wasn’t an immediate 5 stars from me is that I didn’t love the occasional news-clippings that broke up the chapters. I can see why some liked the payoff of that structural device at the end, but it wasn't for me. McDaniel’s is such a beautiful writer, that inserting even a page of newsprint writing in a voice other than her own made me want to skip it and get to the start of her next sentence.
Read If:
You looked forward to bedtime stories with your dad every night
You felt betrayed by Hillbilly Elegy
You’re just jaded enough to know that this type of family trauma is not a fantasy
TW: Abuse, rape, animal death, racism
Everyone told me that I would weep when I read this, but it was only in the last few chapters that the dam broke. McDaniel’s Betty scribbles down the life of the women and men in her family in between soothing the fears and insecurities of her living siblings and trying to hold onto the memories of her dead ones. Throughout, the Ohio hills watch over her. The people within them may hurt her, but the hills protect the legends and the spirit of the children who are darker than their white neighbors would like and who are struggling to understand their connection to the natural world of their Cherokee ancestors.
The only reason this wasn’t an immediate 5 stars from me is that I didn’t love the occasional news-clippings that broke up the chapters. I can see why some liked the payoff of that structural device at the end, but it wasn't for me. McDaniel’s is such a beautiful writer, that inserting even a page of newsprint writing in a voice other than her own made me want to skip it and get to the start of her next sentence.
Read If:
You looked forward to bedtime stories with your dad every night
You felt betrayed by Hillbilly Elegy
You’re just jaded enough to know that this type of family trauma is not a fantasy
TW: Abuse, rape, animal death, racism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, and Animal death