Storyline: 4 Stars
I read this for my book club, and it was an unexpected good book. I didn’t know much about it beforehand, but one of the book club members suggested that we read it. I think I especially appreciated it because it was a good book that was not overhyped on social media or really anywhere. I’m tired of all the disappointing “booktok” recommendations. This one was definitely an underhyped book and I was pleasantly surprised!
The book gives The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Lord of the Flies vibes. If you like either of both of those, you will probably like this book. It was a lot to handle, and the only reason why it was given a four star instead of a five star was because of how graphic and awful the story was at some times. If that’s your thing though, this book is for you!
Parental Guidance: 45% Recommend
I would recommend this book 45% of the time. This book is considered YA, and for the most part is is properly labeled. There is not much swearing, and any intimate scenes are offscreen. There were some rainbow characters, but nothing was described in detail and it was barely a part of the book.
The reason for the lower rating was because of the graphic violence and the whole premise being absolutely terrible and shocking and appalling. What the people do to each other and the way that their society was constructed was awful. It is that way for a reason because it does drive home a point, but this is not a book for someone with a weak stomach.
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*Spoilers Ahead*
This book will probably haunt me for awhile, just like both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Lord of the Flies did. It was wild and disturbing. It drove home the point of how awful mysogony is and how it’s sad when women turn against women in those societies, but it was so graphic and terrible!
Some parts were a big unbelievable, but I understand it was a dystopian novel so a lot of it would need to be unbelievable. It was hard to believe that no one before had discovered that the water was what was making them sick and going crazy, that was my first thought when the well was initially described. I thought that there was no way they were going to remain sane if that was the water they were drinking! I was glad to see that the group of girls broke the cycle of not helping the new girls. I understand the symbolism of that and it did make an impact.
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