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A review by alittlebookish
Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters
3.0
I remember being excited to read this book. I haven't written my review for quite some time because I'm conflicted about it. The premise of this story is a girl who lives with an alcoholic abusive father. He has seriously hurt her brother to the point where he has an acquired brain injury. During all this the protagonist is dealing with the fact that she is attracted to women.
This storyline was guaranteed to be a win for me. As depressing as it may be, I really like reading abuse stories and I also love LGBT stories. Well I have to say that the book was a win for me for most of the story. I felt so much for Mara and her brother and I hated the parents for so many reasons. I felt outraged by the way the mother cowered to her husband, allowing abuse to take place. I wanted to smack the father upside the head for the way he treated his children. I wished I could have taken Mara and her brother in and take care of them.
I liked reading about Mara exploring her sexuality and really trying to come into her own in an oppressive setting. Her struggle is real and many people have to face it, unfortunately.
All of these positives were slightly ruined by the ending. I don't want to spoil anything so if you don't want to know then don't read this part....
*** SPOILER ****
.... but the end of was so depressing! Nothing was cleared up and I just felt a sense of doom over the whole thing. I would much prefer a struggle that leads to something positive. I know that the world is not all rainbows and unicorns but I'd like to think that hope should have been alive a bit.
Blah! End rant.
*** END SPOILER ***
So as you can see I am torn in how I feel about it. I liked most of the book so does the part that I didn't like cancel out the good? Have you ever read a book like that? If so, which ones? I'm curious. I don't even want to say whether or not I'd recommend it; I'm too on the fence about the whole thing.
Try at your own risk is what I guess I'd say.
This storyline was guaranteed to be a win for me. As depressing as it may be, I really like reading abuse stories and I also love LGBT stories. Well I have to say that the book was a win for me for most of the story. I felt so much for Mara and her brother and I hated the parents for so many reasons. I felt outraged by the way the mother cowered to her husband, allowing abuse to take place. I wanted to smack the father upside the head for the way he treated his children. I wished I could have taken Mara and her brother in and take care of them.
I liked reading about Mara exploring her sexuality and really trying to come into her own in an oppressive setting. Her struggle is real and many people have to face it, unfortunately.
All of these positives were slightly ruined by the ending. I don't want to spoil anything so if you don't want to know then don't read this part....
*** SPOILER ****
.... but the end of was so depressing! Nothing was cleared up and I just felt a sense of doom over the whole thing. I would much prefer a struggle that leads to something positive. I know that the world is not all rainbows and unicorns but I'd like to think that hope should have been alive a bit.
Blah! End rant.
*** END SPOILER ***
So as you can see I am torn in how I feel about it. I liked most of the book so does the part that I didn't like cancel out the good? Have you ever read a book like that? If so, which ones? I'm curious. I don't even want to say whether or not I'd recommend it; I'm too on the fence about the whole thing.
Try at your own risk is what I guess I'd say.