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A review by danidsfavereads
Gather The Daughters by Jennie Melamed
5.0
I have had a few days to process my feelings for this book and I think I am ready to put my thoughts to the page.
This story is terrifying and electrifying and inspiring all at the same time.
The story follows the lives of four girls - Vanessa, Caitlin, Janey, and Amanda - who live within a cult on a small island. The original 10 ancestors created a "bible" filled with rules the community follows. Every man has a role and the women support them. The girls, at first sign of puberty attend the "summer of fruition" where they find their husband and subsequently get married. Before this time, the children spend their summers running around freely. An unspoken understanding is that fathers abuse (both physically and sexually) their daughters. At the end of one summer, one of the girls sees something that leads to secrets that are threatened to be exposed. The girls on the island go a strike in an effort to make things change.
At the beginning of the book I found myself having to re-read passages to make sure I understood exactly what was being alluded to, and to follow who was being discussed. As the story progresses, you cannot help but root for these girls and hope that everything will turn out okay.
Without giving anything away, I was hoping for a different result after the "strike". However, knowing some of the psychology behind cult, I can understand how it might not have made that much of an impact. My thought is that if this story were to continue, this year on the island would have lasting repercussions for the remaining community.
I was continually heart broken by the idea of what these girls had to endure by the hands of their fathers. The thought that one of the ancestors believed this to be acceptable astounds me.
I was interested to see who could write so vividly about this topic. And reading that the author is a
psychiatric nurse practitioner who worked with traumatized children really impressed me.
This book is one of those that will keep you thinking long after you turn the final page.
This story is terrifying and electrifying and inspiring all at the same time.
The story follows the lives of four girls - Vanessa, Caitlin, Janey, and Amanda - who live within a cult on a small island. The original 10 ancestors created a "bible" filled with rules the community follows. Every man has a role and the women support them. The girls, at first sign of puberty attend the "summer of fruition" where they find their husband and subsequently get married. Before this time, the children spend their summers running around freely. An unspoken understanding is that fathers abuse (both physically and sexually) their daughters. At the end of one summer, one of the girls sees something that leads to secrets that are threatened to be exposed. The girls on the island go a strike in an effort to make things change.
At the beginning of the book I found myself having to re-read passages to make sure I understood exactly what was being alluded to, and to follow who was being discussed. As the story progresses, you cannot help but root for these girls and hope that everything will turn out okay.
Without giving anything away, I was hoping for a different result after the "strike". However, knowing some of the psychology behind cult, I can understand how it might not have made that much of an impact. My thought is that if this story were to continue, this year on the island would have lasting repercussions for the remaining community.
I was continually heart broken by the idea of what these girls had to endure by the hands of their fathers. The thought that one of the ancestors believed this to be acceptable astounds me.
I was interested to see who could write so vividly about this topic. And reading that the author is a
psychiatric nurse practitioner who worked with traumatized children really impressed me.
This book is one of those that will keep you thinking long after you turn the final page.