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ash_mack's review
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy
carrieella81's review
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, and Self harm
libbyyjo's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
ashleykhoffman's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Everything was nice to read, but there was no pressure for me that was keeping me reading. There were LOTS of dramatic moments, but no ongoing pressure or singular thing I was rooting for or hoping for. It just felt like getting slapped in the face every other chapter for 50 chapters. This family was put through the wringer; Betty, too, was put through it, but she seemed to be the lone member of her family who persevered and rose above in the end.
I've come to realize that memoir-style stories are just not my favorite, but if you're looking for something full of emotions and lots of triggering scenes that will make you gasp and a wicked surprising ending dramatic climax... you'll love this.
Graphic: Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug abuse, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
benchless's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
To be a woman in this novel was to suffer.
"You know what the heaviest thing in the world is, Betty? It's a man on top of you when you don't want him to be."
"By that time, I was at a point in my life where I had a very particular image of God in my head. I imagined God was a woman in a torn satin bed jacket with falling curlers in her messy hair. She sat in a bed of dirty sheets, surrounded by a canopy of sheer curtains spiders clung to. She ate chocolates from a box until her teeth were rotted and the box was empty, ready to be piled with the smashed boxes already on the floor. Blush was streaked across her cheeks like something trying to run away. Lipstick bled outside the lines of her lips as if they were melting. She was a woman used and left by humanity in ways only we know how to consume and leave."
With all this suffering, I was amazed by how much hope remained threaded throughout every chapter. Why? Betty had the most loving, imaginative father you could imagine. He was a Cherokee man married to a white woman in a time when nothing kind came from having brown skin. He struggled and failed to give his children what they needed at times, but he persevered and loved them all, even the bad ones. He filled their minds with the most beautiful stories that tried to make them feel special and worth something in a world that was constantly pushing them down.
"The first woman was given antlers on her head to branch her power out into the world," he said, digging the rake deeper. "Slugs are frightened of that power because they are spineless creatures, and all spineless creatures are frightened of a woman's power."
"He would stretch her hands out to either side of her. 'You're my centimeter, inch, and foot. The distance between your hands is the distance that measures everything between the sun and the moon. Only a woman can measure such things.' 'Why?' Fraya asked to remind herself. 'Because you're powerful.'"
"He kissed my forehead. 'I don't know if I've ever told you that I love you, Little Indian. I don't know if I've ever said those words.' 'You said them every time you told me a story.' I looked into his eyes...'Have I ever told you I loved you?' I asked because I really didn't know. 'Every time you listened to one of my stories.'"
The relationship between Betty and her father is built on these stories, and they get Betty past all the hurdles of "coming of age against the knife" to become a writer herself. I adored him and Betty, and I left this book with great respect for Tiffany McDaniel's family history.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
mariep97's review
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
polly_baker's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I absolutely loved Betty. Her first person narration, channeled through McDaniel's lyrical prose, amplified the wonder, the confusion, the joy and the hurt that punctuated her childhood and adolescence.
It is all at once a celebration and a damnation of the things we acquire, generation to generation. Parallels are drawn between the indigenous wisdom Betty is gifted from her Cherokee father, and the generational trauma she endures from her mother's abusive past. Betty's narrative gives voice to the many children who bear the burdens of their elders, carrying pain silently, burying it in jam-jars deep beneath the ground.
Betty's father is portrayed through her child's eyes as god-like and mythical, strengthened through his indigenous stories and the knowledge and reverence he held for the Earth. The Cherokee heritage is celebrated and foregrounded, even amidst a world working its hardest to erase it. Betty struggles with her identity as tales of the matriarchal power and strength of the Cherokee collide with a patriarchal and capitalist America, which systematically dismantles indigenous pride, and cultivates shame in its place.
It is a challenging read (worth checking the trigger warnings for) as Betty has borne witness to a multitude of traumatic incidents during her upbringing. But this is not trauma porn... Betty is based on the story of McDaniel's own mother, rooted very much in reality and in the shaping of Betty Carpenter, a new favourite character, and human, who I already deeply miss.
<i>“I realized then that not only did Dad need us to believe his stories, we needed to believe them as well. To believe in unripe stars and eagles able to do extraordinary things. What it boiled down to was a frenzied hope that there was more to life than the reality around us. Only then could we claim a destiny we did not feel cursed to.”</i>
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt
elliott_the_clementine's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jco1016's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
aliciawithoutkeys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail