“If you enjoyed An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, read The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls…an absorbing commentary on love, family and forgiveness.”—The Washington Post “A fast-paced, intriguing story…the novel’s real achievement is its uncommon perceptiveness on the origins and variations of addiction.”—The New York Times Book Review One of the most anticipated reads of … Review
One of the most anticipated reads of 2019 from Vogue, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Essence, Bustle, HelloGiggles and Cosmo!
“The Mothers meets An American Marriage” (HelloGiggles) in this dazzling debut novel about mothers and daughters, identity and family, and how the relationships that sustain you can also be the ones that consume you.
The Butler family has had their share of trials—as sisters Althea, Viola, and Lillian can attest—but nothing prepared them for the literal trial that will upend their lives.
Althea, the eldest sister and substitute matriarch, is a force to be reckoned with and her younger sisters have alternately appreciated and chafed at her strong will. They are as stunned as the rest of the small community when she and her husband, Proctor, are arrested, and in a heartbeat the family goes from one of the most respected in town to utter disgrace. The worst part is, not even her sisters are sure exactly what happened.
As Althea awaits her fate, Lillian and Viola must come together in the house they grew up in to care for their sister’s teenage daughters. What unfolds is a stunning portrait of the heart and core of an American family in a story that is as page-turning as it is important.
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A poetically written story that guides us through a deep darkness toward a faint whisper of light seeping from beneath a closet door. A light that shows how love and forgiveness can come from unexpected places and triumph over more than we ever imagine.
I was immediately taken by the power and honesty of Anissa Gray’s voice. She is a writer to watch, and this debut is not to be missed!
“Sometimes life can pulla lot out of you, Althea. Just squeeze you dry. And if you don’t have a way to get back whatever’s good and precious to you, it’s like losing your soul.”
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is journalist Anissa Gray’s debut novel in fiction. This book primarily follows three sisters: Althea, Viola and Lillian as they grow into women just as flawed as the rest of us in this world. Life has left its scar on each of them and its one they can’t easily cover up. It’s textured, persistent and it never stops bleeding. Histories of trauma lead to a variety of habitual dysfunction that is witnessed in each of these characters. But as isolating as this song and dance may feel, they find connection, understanding and healing in surprising places.
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is a deep character-driven novel about the intense void life carves out of us and the insatiable hunger left in its wake. I found this novel to be very real and surprisingly therapeutic. Gray develops her characters expertly, as if she has lived each of their lives before. Maybe she has. Maybe we all have in different ways. Full of honesty and healing, this was a great book. Check it out.
*Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for generously mailing me an advance readers’ edition of Anissa Gray’s debut novel, The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. In exchange, I agreed to share my thoughts on goodreads and my other favorite social media sites. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing. Quotes have been checked against the final, published edition.
I just don’t know what to say about this book. I couldn’t stop reading, I couldn’t put it down, but when I finished I sat back and thought hmm…what do I think? I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it, I just don’t know.
I struggled with keeping some of the characters straight. I figured out the Butler kids right away but the spouses and secondary characters kept getting confused in my brain. I had to go back a couple of times to see who was telling the story and then it all came together. None of the characters were easy to like and each had their own nightmares to struggle with. It was good to see that they kept in touch and when the going got tough they came together to help each other out.
The storyline was one problem after another. There was an arrest, abuse, runaways, eating disorders, a marriage dissolving, and so many other problems that is seemed to all just keep piling on. Maybe that is the problem for me, it was such a dark story and I kept looking for the light that never seemed to come. The story was sad from the very beginning and it never got happy.
American families come in all shapes and sizes. No longer is there a mom, dad and 2.5 kids. The important part of a family is the love that they share not the way the family is put together. This novel is a book about family and the search to find the love that they share.
The Butler family is made up of three sisters – Althea, Lillian and Viola and one brother – Joe. Their mother died very young and Althea helped to raise the rest of the family. She did her best but it often wasn’t enough and there are lots of problems in this family. One sibling is an abuser, one is bulimic and none of them really know how to love each other or themselves. When Althea (the matriarch of the family) and her husband, Proctor are arrested and sent to jail, it’s up to the rest of the family to pull together and take care of Althea’s teenage twins. To successfully do this, they all need to forgive and learn to love each other again.
This is a well written story about a family in crisis and what needs to happen within the family and within each member to get through the hard times and see if they can be a family of love again.
It’s a debut novel for this author and I look forward to her future novels.
Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
“But how do you tell somebody what it’s like to have reality rolling in on you in waves, knocking you to your knees…”
Althea is the oldest Butler sibling. She’s been through a lot, having to raise her siblings when her mother passed. But now, the Butlers are all grown up, and Althea and her husband are in prison. We read this story through varying viewpoints of the sisters.
This was a book I had on my list since before it was released. I am so glad that I finally got to read it because the story and characters draw you in from the start. The struggles they all face are real and powerful. The writing is so powerful that sometimes I desperately wanted the sisters to speak up, especially when people were going after baby Vi and Kim. I wanted so badly for the townspeople to see the girls aren’t responsible for the actions of their parents.
“… but guilt speaks louder than common sense.”
The girls are all a bit broken from their past and from what they’re going through now. It was emotional and hits you right in the feels. If it weren’t for bedtime, I would have read this in one sitting. Nicely done.
It was a well-written book, I had trouble putting it down. The characters sucked you in, however, some of the events of the book weren’t overly believable and I still had questions at the end. Overall though, it was a good book.
Over rated reviews. It was ok, certainly not “best seller” quality
I recommend it – tough reading sometimes – subject matter not complexity of writing. A disturbed family but found myself rooting for them. Not quickly forgotten.
Anissa Gray’s novel about a couple who must serve time in prison is sad. It is very emotional as we move through the family’s coping mechanisms. It is not easy facing the fact that a member of the family is away for years. Each member in the family suffers in a different way. It is strange to realize that one horrible event can cause a person to come in to contact with their sufferings.
These sufferings are not exactly the ones suffered by those in prison, or are they? For example, one sister remembers her brother’s abuse. He would lock her in a closet. Perhaps, the darkness of that closet is the way she sees jail. Never having experienced one person’s trauma does not mean we can not in some way experience their pain. It shows itself in another familiar way.
The closet is locked and dark. It becomes more suffocating each time she is thrown in there. So, it is true as others suffer we suffer with them in some familiar way. Of course, imprisonment does seem the epitome of emotional and sometimes physical pain. The thought is left that trials, struggles are learning experiences or spiritual gifts. Not ones we search for but ones that come to us whether we want them or not.
Certainly wins the prize for the best book title of 2019. This is a very well written book. There’s been something of a run of these novels in the last 2 years, examining broken families in minutiae, looking at the American dream versus the private reality, taking apart what family really means and the ramifications of personal disasters. A small but explosive world is created in these pages, and the results are compelling and fascinating. It’s a good read.
This is a passionate tale of a complicated family that is trying to deal with years of guilt, secrets, shame, regret and so much more.
We’re taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride through the lives of this dysfunctional family, after the fraudulent activities of Althea and Proctor are brought to light and land them in jail. We hear from numerous narrators, while Althea and Proctor await their fate.
If you think your family is a disaster, they might not seem so bad after reading this book!
Anissa Gray did a fantastic job of writing this debut novel, but there was too much misery and sadness for me to fully enjoy the story. I also wanted to know more about Althea and Proctor’s fraudulent actions.
My Rating: 3.5 ’s (rounding up)
Published: February 19th 2019 by Berkley
Pages: 304
Thank you to Edelweiss, Berkley and Anissa Gray for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion!
Wonderful!!!
The Butler girls certainly had a difficult childhood. Each has tried to heal in her own way. Now the sisters need to come together when Althea and her husband are jailed for embezzling money meant for charity. Lillian and Viola must help their two nieces, who are struggling with the arrest. The characters are strong with emotions that are raw and real. A great debut by Annisa Gray.
A thought-provoking, intimate story of family, forgiveness, and sisterhood that has stayed with me long after I turned the last page.
A trio of sisters navigate the tricky waters of forgiveness in Gray’s heartfelt, beautifully written debut… Get an extra copy for your best friend or your own sister; this is one you’re going to want to talk about.
Gray beautifully captures the way strong women can piece a community back together, taking care of their loved ones while still figuring out how to care for themselves. A graceful debut that feels timely and important.
I would like to thank Penguin Random House and author Anissa Gray for the opportunity to read and objectively review this book.
Sometimes a book touches you and you find a meaning in its pages that you never experienced before. This is one of those books. Life leaves a mark on us which can alter our being. I found myself thinking of the sucker punches life has thrown at me, leaving me dispirited and hopeless. And they don’t occur singly or less devastating. I have felt the call of the end of life, by my own hand, and called out for help. That is this book.
Althea had it all. Community respect, a good business, faithful husband and two daughters.
It was taken from her. All of it. As she was accused of a crime and called to answer for it. Her husband was implicated as well. Jail.
As they serve their sentences, we get to experience the loves they had and what becomes of the daughters. A strikingly emotional read. I am exhausted by the emotions of these incredibly flawed characters and what they must struggle through. The loss of respect, all personal belongings, the daughters.
How does one repair the damage of a lifetime. How does one learn through this tragic reversal? Each of us has a history, a story, or regret. But through these challenges, we perhaps find that we are stronger than we think. MUST READ!
This word is every bit as original as its title. The writing is so strong and crisp, the characters to fully realized, it’s hard to believe this is a debut. One of the best novels I’ve read in a long time!