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hailthejessiah's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Haunting. Stayed with me for days afterwards.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Child abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Mental illness
stepharina's review against another edition
1.0
I’ve had a visceral reaction to this book. I had really high hopes for this book and it has so many good reviews to which I now ask why?? I’ve read the good reviews and I just never felt the way these people have felt. Then I read the bad reviews and they are so to the point of how I felt through every step of the process. Here are my issues:(spoilers ahead!) also not good as an audio book based off how it’s written (see below) too confusing so I stopped and actually read it. Which only made it slightly better.
1. Seven kids/seven chapters all named after one of the kids except the last one is titled all of us. Once you’ll read you find out why. But because this was written this way I just assumed the chapters would be centered around that child and/or told from their perspective and it wasn’t. Some chapters contained multiple points of view (also super confusing). While those chapters did express more stuff about the titled child it also contained stuff about each child so why even structure it that way??
2. The chapters were soooo long. See above and now that’s even more confusing because it jumped so much and had multiple points of view why only have 7 chapters in a book over 300 pages?! The structure of the chapters really boggled my mind and I just don’t get it!
3. The non-linear time line would have made sense and benefited the story had it been done correctly! Okay so one paragraph is in the past about one kid then the next three paragraphs are about a different kid further in the past and then two paragraphs about the title character in the present then back to the last but unrelated to the past two jumps. Talk about confusing! Also no real place for it. I’m all for a non-linear timeline for suspense if it makes sense I spent more time going back and rereading to get my bearings or giving up and being confused on what the actual heck was going on! There were pages that had three jumps on it. Like why?! So related to 1,2 and 3 I don’t understand why the author did this and more importantly how the editor could let it happen!
4. The synopsis tells a story about how these kids were abused and I couldn’t really tell you what happened to these kids at all! There’s a lot of skirting around issues, insinuations without proper info, the main things you hear are things were okay then not and there were times they were allowed out and times they were chained up and that’s about it. Not that I want to read about abuse but it was just so disjointed and not in line with how the synopsis of the book read.
5. I hated the writing. A lot of the good reviews talk about how well written the book was and even some of the bad reviews will say in them “but it was well written”. I missed that completely I actually thought the writing was terrible. I may just have a different preference though!
6. It was hard to get through. I felt like it was Groundhog Day. I would pick it up and feel like I was rereading what I had already read which in some cases I was and I never felt like I was getting anything accomplished. Felt like the longest pages of my life.
7. I had no emotional attachment to the characters. I am a child welfare social worker for goodness sake and I cry at commercials. The fact that I didn’t feel bad for these kids says something! I can’t handle a kid being sad about anything or even if a kid is done wrong. Here I was like an emotionless soul reading through.
I could write so much more but not even worth my time I’ve wasted enough time on this book. Interested to hear if someone I know opinions differ from mine!
1. Seven kids/seven chapters all named after one of the kids except the last one is titled all of us. Once you’ll read you find out why. But because this was written this way I just assumed the chapters would be centered around that child and/or told from their perspective and it wasn’t. Some chapters contained multiple points of view (also super confusing). While those chapters did express more stuff about the titled child it also contained stuff about each child so why even structure it that way??
2. The chapters were soooo long. See above and now that’s even more confusing because it jumped so much and had multiple points of view why only have 7 chapters in a book over 300 pages?! The structure of the chapters really boggled my mind and I just don’t get it!
3. The non-linear time line would have made sense and benefited the story had it been done correctly! Okay so one paragraph is in the past about one kid then the next three paragraphs are about a different kid further in the past and then two paragraphs about the title character in the present then back to the last but unrelated to the past two jumps. Talk about confusing! Also no real place for it. I’m all for a non-linear timeline for suspense if it makes sense I spent more time going back and rereading to get my bearings or giving up and being confused on what the actual heck was going on! There were pages that had three jumps on it. Like why?! So related to 1,2 and 3 I don’t understand why the author did this and more importantly how the editor could let it happen!
4. The synopsis tells a story about how these kids were abused and I couldn’t really tell you what happened to these kids at all! There’s a lot of skirting around issues, insinuations without proper info, the main things you hear are things were okay then not and there were times they were allowed out and times they were chained up and that’s about it. Not that I want to read about abuse but it was just so disjointed and not in line with how the synopsis of the book read.
5. I hated the writing. A lot of the good reviews talk about how well written the book was and even some of the bad reviews will say in them “but it was well written”. I missed that completely I actually thought the writing was terrible. I may just have a different preference though!
6. It was hard to get through. I felt like it was Groundhog Day. I would pick it up and feel like I was rereading what I had already read which in some cases I was and I never felt like I was getting anything accomplished. Felt like the longest pages of my life.
7. I had no emotional attachment to the characters. I am a child welfare social worker for goodness sake and I cry at commercials. The fact that I didn’t feel bad for these kids says something! I can’t handle a kid being sad about anything or even if a kid is done wrong. Here I was like an emotionless soul reading through.
I could write so much more but not even worth my time I’ve wasted enough time on this book. Interested to hear if someone I know opinions differ from mine!
mmajer's review
2.0
I was totally enthralled by the first third of this book, but my god did it slog on and on, and oh yes, further on.
kenziebecky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This was like a true crime documentary, but also a very good take on how even siblings can take different paths in the face of trauma. Something that is important to highlight. I feel like each characters path was well developed and we got a good understanding of the story without ever explicitly explaining very intense details. I really liked it.
przela71's review
4.0
This book was intense at times, but based on the subject matter, I suppose that makes me human. It wrecked me a bit!
brynners89's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.0
kimberleyh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
laurenedgington's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
emmat21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tanja_reads_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This was a dark and depressing read, but it was still something that kept me hooked. You can see how it was influenced by the story of the Turpin Family. Instead of focusing on the cause of the suffering we are given the chance to read about how abuse, the spotlight and trauma impact the lives of the Gracie children after they are rescued. I do wish that each chapter that was named after each child did have more of their POV so we can understand how or why they ended up the way they did. Overall it was good - if a little lacking in some depth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Child abuse