Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

5 reviews

schausjk's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Emotional at times with some well-written moments, but also deeply predictable. The book sacrifices much of its tension and pacing in an attempt to lean into being more character driven, but even then it sometimes feels more like outlines of lives rather than fully fleshed out characters. This book would have benefitted from being longer and adding more depth to some of its themes.

As a side note, the repeated casual fatphobia was super irritating. Every single time the author brings up a character's weight, it's always to either make fat characters the butt of a joke or with implications that the fat characters are disgusting or have let themselves go (sometimes it's both!).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was such an emotional journey. Norma/Ruthie’s parts held me in a chokehold. I didn’t have much interest in Joe’s parts, which decreased to almost nothing

after he beat his wife. There was the slightest redemption when he finally returned home to face what he’d done and make amends.

I loved hearing about the places they occupied in NS, knowing those familiar lands/berries and the rough but charming character of Nova Scotians. The author had quite a way to paint emotional pictures, connect them to the reader’s emotions, and invoke all five senses. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

**I originally gave this 3 stars, but after discussing with my book club and realising the weaknesses in pacing, structure, character development and language in this book, I revise my rating to 2 stars**

Saying that you wish a book had been a different book/that a story had been told differently feels like a cop-out in a review. An author chooses the story they want to tell, and that is the story the reader receives. Amanda Peters wanted to tell the story of two siblings who were torn apart by an awful act, and how the trauma of that act was mirrored throughout their lives into adulthood and middle age. 

The problems with this are that a) the drama of the book lags in the middle as the two characters move away from their traumatic childhood, before the reckoning of mortality brings them back to it in middle age, and b) the story of Joe is ultimately not as strong or believable as that of Norma's. I think this would have been a better book had it concentrated only on Ruthie's disappearance, or

the revelation of Norma's kidnapping and reunion with her family.

Similarly, I think a multiplicity of viewpoints, such as the other siblings, or the parents, or the Ellises who owned the berry farm, would have made the story stronger.

The highlight of this book for me was the way Peters wrote the complicated, twisted, guilt-ridden love between Norma and her mother. It was painful, heartwrenching, and rang utterly true.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide

abicaro17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is amazing. Very insightful and inspiring. You really connect to both sides of the coin: Ruthie as dutiful and reserved struggling to break free and Joe as angry and lost struggling to find peace. I think while the end was a tad short it did wrap everything up in a neat and sad way. Its also hella slow and doesn't pick up till the last 30%. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent