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Godshot, at first glance, is about a young girl raised up in a religious cult. But if insight into a cult is what you are looking for, this is not the book for you. We follow Lacey May in a coming of age story as she navigates life in a broken community surrounded by drought and despair. Most critical to Lacey’s development is her relationship with her mother. The novel closely examines mothers and daughters and the bonds of unconditional love in those relationships (whether it exists or not).
I am torn between loving Godshot and mildly abhorring it. So I’ve settled in the middle at 3 stars. Chelsea Bieker has some really amazing moments. You cannot deny she is a great writer. Here is where she excels: deep and cutting moments that sum up the characters’ pained existences. She whips out lines like, “The loneliness of a monster can only become sentimental after it is dead” and I can’t help but sit with it for a moment. There is so much insight into womanhood in these pages. Here is where she flounders: dialogue. Conversations among characters would often lead to large plot action, but nothing about the conversation made sense in getting the reader there. It gave a choppy feeling to the already hazy narrative. There was a feeling of plot events simply happening to Lacey instead of Lacey taking actions in her own. I know this was intentional and it lent credence to Lacey’s helpless position but it also served to alienate the reader.
Difficult circumstances and desperation led to a lot of wild and unique things happening to Lacey. By all rights, it should have been riveting but somehow even with all of the craziness going on, the book dragged a little bit. We got a lot of Lacey sitting around in the heat and wishing for rain. I wasn’t bored necessarily, just unattached.
Overall: this was a really interesting examination of human nature in times of hopelessness, but not perfectly executed.
I am torn between loving Godshot and mildly abhorring it. So I’ve settled in the middle at 3 stars. Chelsea Bieker has some really amazing moments. You cannot deny she is a great writer. Here is where she excels: deep and cutting moments that sum up the characters’ pained existences. She whips out lines like, “The loneliness of a monster can only become sentimental after it is dead” and I can’t help but sit with it for a moment. There is so much insight into womanhood in these pages. Here is where she flounders: dialogue. Conversations among characters would often lead to large plot action, but nothing about the conversation made sense in getting the reader there. It gave a choppy feeling to the already hazy narrative. There was a feeling of plot events simply happening to Lacey instead of Lacey taking actions in her own. I know this was intentional and it lent credence to Lacey’s helpless position but it also served to alienate the reader.
Difficult circumstances and desperation led to a lot of wild and unique things happening to Lacey. By all rights, it should have been riveting but somehow even with all of the craziness going on, the book dragged a little bit. We got a lot of Lacey sitting around in the heat and wishing for rain. I wasn’t bored necessarily, just unattached.
Overall: this was a really interesting examination of human nature in times of hopelessness, but not perfectly executed.