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A review by slamdradee1978
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
4.0
Picked this one up because it was recommended to me as a shorter book, and I swore to myself I would read more horror written by women.
It was kind of a mixed bag for me personally, although the goods outweighed the bads in the end for me. I'm not really a fan of most "precocious children" stories, because the kids tend to really get on my nerves. Sometimes that works in the media's favor (Babadook is a brilliant example), but I tend to prefer them more like Moonrise Kingdom. Somehow this was in the middle of the two for me, and it seemed to be running relay races between the two, either on one far side or the other. I wasn't really gelling with the book's sense of humor with the kids for the first third of the book, but maybe that's just me being an adult now. The frustration you feel towards the kids' hyper-independence they cling to turns to bloody sadness after seeing how the adults respond to the hurricane. It's a harsh wake up call, especially when you or someone you know has gone through similar neglect. It doesn't feel unrealistic either; the adults in this book feel useless in a way that feels more real than most media with useless adults.
Unfortunately, it does have a lot of tropes that really give me the ick: the first of which is the Guys With Guns Without Morals that storm their camp and add more pressure, torturing the kid's temporary guardians and killing their pet animals. I really despise this trope; it just doesn't have any emotional impact anymore for me and just disgusts me. Thankfully, it only takes up a short bit of the book and the resolution is somewhat satisfying. I also really disliked that one of the girl's mom died during childbirth and the teen daughter imprinted on the baby, and became a mom through trauma. I know it's working with Bible allusions, but this is something I really hate in media. Forcing young girls into teen mom situations is not the kind of drama I like in my books, and dare I say this controversial opinion: not very feminist.
Overall, I think this is a really good example of a book with an interesting plot with unlikable characters that are still fascinating to watch. However, if you're someone who likes to have very likable characters and enjoy getting very attached to them, this may not be the book for you, because while they're easy to empathize with, they're hard to like. Especially Alicia. This is also one of the few books where I felt the ending was the best part rather than the middle or beginning.
It was kind of a mixed bag for me personally, although the goods outweighed the bads in the end for me. I'm not really a fan of most "precocious children" stories, because the kids tend to really get on my nerves. Sometimes that works in the media's favor (Babadook is a brilliant example), but I tend to prefer them more like Moonrise Kingdom. Somehow this was in the middle of the two for me, and it seemed to be running relay races between the two, either on one far side or the other. I wasn't really gelling with the book's sense of humor with the kids for the first third of the book, but maybe that's just me being an adult now. The frustration you feel towards the kids' hyper-independence they cling to turns to bloody sadness after seeing how the adults respond to the hurricane. It's a harsh wake up call, especially when you or someone you know has gone through similar neglect. It doesn't feel unrealistic either; the adults in this book feel useless in a way that feels more real than most media with useless adults.
Unfortunately, it does have a lot of tropes that really give me the ick: the first of which is the Guys With Guns Without Morals that storm their camp and add more pressure, torturing the kid's temporary guardians and killing their pet animals. I really despise this trope; it just doesn't have any emotional impact anymore for me and just disgusts me. Thankfully, it only takes up a short bit of the book and the resolution is somewhat satisfying. I also really disliked that one of the girl's mom died during childbirth and the teen daughter imprinted on the baby, and became a mom through trauma. I know it's working with Bible allusions, but this is something I really hate in media. Forcing young girls into teen mom situations is not the kind of drama I like in my books, and dare I say this controversial opinion: not very feminist.
Overall, I think this is a really good example of a book with an interesting plot with unlikable characters that are still fascinating to watch. However, if you're someone who likes to have very likable characters and enjoy getting very attached to them, this may not be the book for you, because while they're easy to empathize with, they're hard to like. Especially Alicia. This is also one of the few books where I felt the ending was the best part rather than the middle or beginning.