Reviews

The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

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allison_sirovy's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed the book in terms of the story line and the historical aspects of it, but the writing was so-so for me. I didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I had hoped. Still a really good read!

meghb's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

I thought the book had a good premise, and a decent timeline, but some things just didn’t hit that right note for me. Firstly, the title is a tad misleading. It barely touches on the ‘Home for Unwanted Girls’ and Elodie’s (the only likeable character) story, and when it does, there is very little depth. The book spends most of the time on Maggie, who (and I may be biased as an adoptee) is an absolutely selfish character who learns nothing. Why there is so much time and repetition about her father and his love of seeds, I have no idea. If it’s some sort of “if you plant it, it will grow” sort of metaphor, it fell short. There were also a lot of unnecessary descriptors just so we were 100% sure she was in Montreal. (Why the need to mention that she scraped her shoes on the cobblestones of Old Montreal?). I also thought the English/French animosity had very little to do with the plot.

Content Warnings

jennclark's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

lottie1803's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nav26's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Have been wanting to read this for a while and finally got around to it. I was shocked that as a Canadian I had never heard about Quebec turning their orphanages into asylums. This was good insight into the horrors that so many children and families went through because of this terrible policy. I was hooked on both stories and couldn't put it down.