Easy to read, but really didn't care for the plot
A victim is not to blame.
A victim is not to blame.
A victim is not to blame.
I love a family saga. I enjoy books where perspective trades between family members (like ALL ADULTS HERE). I thought WE ARE THE BRENNANS would be very much for me.
*spoilers below*
But I'm mostly just left angry for a fictional character, Sunday, whose family reacted so inappropriately to her assault that I'm having trouble coming up with the words to criticize it. I read an ALC and a print arc; I sincerely hope the line, "It's not that Sunday was blameless" was edited out prior to publication (update: I checked, it wasn't). That passage went on to detail reasons why she is to blame for her own assault. She is absolutely not to blame -- the assaulter is to blame. Further, the speaker, Kale, is a man who's "loved" her his entire adult life. I cannot fathom that someone who in part blames her for what happened to her also is so "in love" with her that he needs out of his marriage to someone else.
Sunday's mother told her it was her "own fault" as well. Given her characterization, that doesn't surprise me. But I am upset that these sorts of victim blaming statements appear in this book and are not strongly rebutted. Where is the friend, the cousin, the neighbor there to say, "No, the person who hurt you is the person responsible for hurting you. You did not ask to be hurt." Instead we have someone who commits murder to... what? Make him pay?
So your options, as an assault survivor, are to keep it bottled up for years (being judged all the while for not being close to your family). Or, tell those closest to you, just to have them blame you at least a little bit, and kill the guy on your behalf. Regardless of what you wanted.
That aside, I really didn't buy the Sunday/Kale love connection -- the way it was written, it seemed she went through puberty and he all of a sudden wanted her (right down to the she "needed none of the makeup other girls wore" trope). I felt bad for his wife and was glad she at least got a divorce in the end.
Overall, this book was easy to get into. It was a fast read. But the plot made me so mad.
The audio production was OK, but the narrator sounded a bit terse at times (when I didn't think the plot called for that delivery). I liked reading the text better.
A victim is not to blame.
A victim is not to blame.
I love a family saga. I enjoy books where perspective trades between family members (like ALL ADULTS HERE). I thought WE ARE THE BRENNANS would be very much for me.
*spoilers below*
But I'm mostly just left angry for a fictional character, Sunday, whose family reacted so inappropriately to her assault that I'm having trouble coming up with the words to criticize it. I read an ALC and a print arc; I sincerely hope the line, "It's not that Sunday was blameless" was edited out prior to publication (update: I checked, it wasn't). That passage went on to detail reasons why she is to blame for her own assault. She is absolutely not to blame -- the assaulter is to blame. Further, the speaker, Kale, is a man who's "loved" her his entire adult life. I cannot fathom that someone who in part blames her for what happened to her also is so "in love" with her that he needs out of his marriage to someone else.
Sunday's mother told her it was her "own fault" as well. Given her characterization, that doesn't surprise me. But I am upset that these sorts of victim blaming statements appear in this book and are not strongly rebutted. Where is the friend, the cousin, the neighbor there to say, "No, the person who hurt you is the person responsible for hurting you. You did not ask to be hurt." Instead we have someone who commits murder to... what? Make him pay?
So your options, as an assault survivor, are to keep it bottled up for years (being judged all the while for not being close to your family). Or, tell those closest to you, just to have them blame you at least a little bit, and kill the guy on your behalf. Regardless of what you wanted.
That aside, I really didn't buy the Sunday/Kale love connection -- the way it was written, it seemed she went through puberty and he all of a sudden wanted her (right down to the she "needed none of the makeup other girls wore" trope). I felt bad for his wife and was glad she at least got a divorce in the end.
Overall, this book was easy to get into. It was a fast read. But the plot made me so mad.
The audio production was OK, but the narrator sounded a bit terse at times (when I didn't think the plot called for that delivery). I liked reading the text better.