The Grace Year
Reviews
I don’t think Dystopian fiction is for me. There were parts I this book that peaked my interest. Other times, I wanted to be done with the book. It’s written well, just not my jam.
Review to come. 🤯 😕
um.. wow. this is really dark and at times hard to read. the author did such a good job with obviously the big overlaying themes but especially the small subtle details of female solidarity/sexism that only women will ever understand. i did predict the big twist, but i also thought it would end differently. i’m happy it ended exactly how it did though. wow. hunger games, handmaids tale, and lord of the flies all braided into one crazy dystopian book.
u prokletého roku jsem měla veliká očekávání, která se mi nakonec splnila. a nejen to. myslím, že je kniha překonala. děj nám začíná v nejmenované vesnici, které vládnou muži. když dívky dovrší šestnáctý rok života, jsou na celý jeden rok vyhnány na ostrov, kde se mají očistit od své 'magie'. zprvu se mi kniha až tak moc nelíbila; vše hrozně rychle utíkalo, já se v příběhu ztrácela a nebyla z něj úplně nadšená. ale když se dívky dostavily na místo, kde stráví celý rok, děj se začal někam posouvat a já byla unešená tím, jak je celé to místo popsané. knížka vám rozhodně nemaže med kolem pusy, dokáže vás vhodit do příběhu a vůbec se v ní nesetkáte s nějakými jemnými popisy. je plná násilí, vzteku, bolesti a pomsty. a já si to zamilovala. zamilovala jsem si ty popisy toho, jak tierney přežívala sama v lese, zajímalo mě, jak se tam učila žít a jak to všechno zvládala, a taky jsem se nemohla odpoutat od děje, protože se hrdinům příběhů pořád něco dělo. nikdy neměly klid. a to na knize hodně cením. autorka se se svými hrdiny nepatlala, dala jim tolik bolesti, že jsem je nakonec litovala všechny, i když nemohu říct, že jsem je měla ráda. hlavní hrdinku jsem nemusela celou knihu, ale i tak mi k srdci přirostla. moc se mi líbila celá ta pochmurná nálada knihy - a ano, zopakuju to znovu - tou náladou a popisy mi to připomínalo midsommar a hunger games dohromady. je to horor, je to hodně triggering a je to vážně krutý. ale já si čtení hrozně užívala. romantická linka mi nedávala moc smysl, přišla mi tam taková navíc, a příběh by se bez obešel, ale nakonec jsem pochopila, proč jí autorka do knihy chtěla dát. od hlavní hrdinky jsem čekala něco víc, ale opět jsem se na to podívala z jiného úhlu pohledu a pochopila její činy, i to, proč udělala to, co udělala a proč se se svým osudem sžila. konec mi přišel hezky vymyšlený a rozhodně na kvalitě knihy neubral. . mám jednu hlavní výtku, a to, že v knize bylo strašně moc chyb a překlepů. hodně často tam nebyla dopsaná slova, chybělo jim třeba písmenko. a nebo tam byla slova ve špatném pádě. na to, že je kniha humbook tip, se korektura měla provést mnohem lépe. . jinak ale úžasná kniha, kterou si musíte přečíst, pokud máte rádi drsné ya příběhy.
This book was WILD. Heard it described as as if the Hunger Games and the Handsmaid’s Tale had a baby and that was pretty accurate.
add this to your TBR
Lord of the Flies meets The Handmaid's Tale.
wait no because this was SOOO GOOD and so potent w themes and messages .. yall read this rn!!
I just loved and hated this book, and it was amazing! [PT] Bom, quando eu achava que a era das distopias já tinha acabado, em 2019 saiu o livro O ano de Graça, ou Grace Year em original. E devo dizer que isto foi uma das leituras mais psicadélicas e fascinantes que eu li. Voltamos à Era Negra modernizada, onde a religião predomina todas as decisões e a mulher é vista apenas como um "acessório" nesta sociedade patriarcal. Além disso, a mulher ao nascer já é impura pois porque tem a capacidade de seduzir o homem e isso é inadmissível. De forma as mulheres serem purificadas, elas passam um ano naquilo que se chama "Ano de Graça" quando atingem os 16 anos, no entanto, nenhuma mulher mais velha fala sobre esse ano e sabe-se que este afeta muito o estado físico e psicológico das mesmas. Sendo também que existem mulheres que nunca voltam. Acompanhamos então uma rapariga de 16 anos Tierney James que vai para o seu Ano de Graça para ser purificada. Devo admitir que este livro dispertou-me horror, sentimento de incapacidade e injustiça como poucos o conseguiram. Eu não consegui parar de ler até chegar ao final do livro, porque isto prendeu-me demasiado. A refleção das relações entre homens e mulheres são muito semelhantes daquilo que encontramos por vezes nos nossos dias, e também a própria relação entre mulheres pode ser aproximada às muitas relações atuais. É um livro horrível, mas muito bem escrito!
fun to read sometimes but the plot went downhill real fast… most “not all men” feminist book ive ever read
another day, another great book. Read it for second time and I love it so much.
Omg shoutout book club this was an awesome pick!! I did not think I would like this but I am very pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful this book is! The plot of this book is crazy and I loved it, all the twists kept me very engaged. But at the end of the day I am a character over plot girlie so my real downside with this was how stereotypical the characters are in terms of the dystopian genre- each character perfectly matched an archetype and that was kinda frustrating for me. Plus the stupidly overused ‘closeted gay-homophobic bully’ trope is simply never gonna do it for me! There also was one aspect regarding the end of the main character that grinds my gears (although it’s not necessarily a bad ending, I just had a different vision) that I will not spoil but Tiffani it is my same critique for Jo March! Despite these silly little downfalls this was a great book that I had a great time reading and am very excited to discuss. Also Gertie is just a precious Angel I love her
Scariest book I’ve ever read. 4.5 stars
Predictable but I couldn’t put it down.
Good concept, but some of the plot points fell flat. Still reminded me of the 2012 dystopian YA craze though so that was nice.
the hunger games x the handmaids tale
This book was everything. As if it wasn’t already perfect enough, the acknowledgments made me view it all in a whole new light. This book feels like a very extreme portrayal of how we view teenage girls coming into womanhood and it seriously made me look inward about the way I view them as well. It’s very rare that a book makes me take a long, good, hard look in the mirror and even rarer for a fiction book to do so, but I’m glad it did. It’s been a while since I’ve read a dystopia (for the first time anyway) and if that’s a genre you like then this is definitely the book for you!
In the county, theres nothing more dangerous than a women who speaks her mind.”
This book was INSANELY hard to put down. Very slow to the start but had enough interesting plot I had to keep going. The vague world building of Garner County is so erie and sinister feeling I didn’t really know what to expect out of any of it, especially the characters.
Because of the consensus of the men we had women going absolute wild and jealous and hurting each other because of what generations of Grace Year has told them.
There was also a lot of analogies that were just so jaw dropping. Her dream, which has very big significance I did not see coming; The metaphor about cannibalism how patriarchy works when it forces women in a position to pit against each other to ahead and get the “good” ending.
hunger games meets handmaide’s tale with a dash of feminism and a main character who will do everything but think how they want them to
“As they’re sizing us up, I’m sizing them up, too.”
love love love
You can read this review and others like it at aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com A special thank you goes out to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for giving me access to this egalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. tw: murder, major oppression of women, violence, pedophilia, poisoning, rampant sexism Holy cow, what a fantastic book! Minus the end being a bit disappointing. I’ll get to that later. But this book is up there as one of my favorite books of the year. It had everything I was looking for in a dystopian novel. It reminded me of why dystopia will always be a favorite genre of mine. Tierney was an excellent main character. She reminded me of Katniss but I think I like Tierney more. Nothing against my girl, Katniss, but there was just something about Tierney. She was so unlikable but in a good way. I found myself rooting for her, even in the times where she annoyed me. Luckily those were far and few in-between. Everything Tierney did was calculated and cunning. She was selfish but entirely giving at the same time, often risking her life for others. The concept of the world upset me but it was like a good upset. If that makes any form of sense. Honestly, I was just terrified the whole time. Terrified for Tierney and terrified for all the women in this book. One of the scariest things about this world was how much it could actually become a reality. It reminded me so much of the Handmaid’s Tale, which I think was where a lot of the inspiration for this book came from. As I type out this review, I get a chill thinking about this world and how truly messed up it is. I would love to have a prequel to see just how this world came to be. My one complaint about this book, which ultimately prevented me from giving it the full 5 (five) stars (but not enough to prevent me from buying this beautiful book) was the ending. I won’t give away any details or spoil it for you guys but dang, that ending sucked. I expected something major to happen, something that would tilt the world on its axis but nope. I was so disappointed. I hope that maybe Kim Liggett will write a second book and perhaps explain what happens after the events of the grace year but I’m not holding my breath. I will just have to sit in my disappointment. Overall, this book was fantastic. My only problem was the ending but other than that tiny issue, I highly recommend this book. If you enjoyed the Handmaid’s Tale (the book, not the show because I’ve only seen one episode of the show and I wasn’t impressed by it) or 1984 by George Orwell, I highly recommend you check this book out.
Okay, so I really liked this book. It felt like a Handmaid's Tale and Yellowjackets mashup, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There was one section that made me so irritated I had to step away briefly as I wanted to shake Tierney in hopes she'd grow some mutha effin' backbone. But once that section passed, we were goooood to go. The rest of the book was highly enjoyable and I loved every unexpected twist down to the very last sentence.
Good book for beginner, loved the conversations in the book and the point of view from the main character.
Loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. Favorite Read so far
It was a mix of two of my favorite books. Handmade tale and hunger games. It was interesting and kept me turning the pages.
Highlights
That’s the problem with letting the light in— after it’s been taken away from you, it feels even darker than it was before.
There’s no freedom in comfort. They’re padded shackles, to be sure, but shackles nonetheless.
Heaven is a boy in a treehouse, with cold hands and a warm heart.
i’m not crying, you’re not crying 🥹
From death there is life.
"But who's going to do the punishing?" Hannah asks. "At home, the punishers are men, chosen by God."
“Look around," Kiersten says as she stares me dead in the eyes. "We are the only Gods here.
"Your eyes are wide open, but you see nothing.
"Just weeds." she says. "They used to be everywhere. Couldn't take a step out your house without comin upon one. They got rid of em round here, but that's the funny thing bout weeds. You can pull em up by the root, burn the soil where they stood, might lie dormant for years, but they'll always find a way."
No one speaks of the grace year. It's forbidden. We're told we have the power to lure grown men from their beds, make boys lose their minds, and drive the wives mad with jealousy. They believe our very skin emits a power- ful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That's why we're banished for our sixteenth year, to release our magic into the wild be- fore we're allowed to return to civilization.
But I don't feel powerful.
I don't feel magical.