One of the Best Books of the Year: The Guardian, Glamour, GoopAn Entertainment Weekly Must-ReadA stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians about a young girl and the family truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.“A girl comes of age against the knife.”So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a white mother and a Cherokee … in 1954 to a white mother and a Cherokee father, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit in the rural town of Breathed, Ohio, is one of poverty and violence—both from outside the family and, devastatingly, from within. But despite the hardships she faces, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters, and her father’s brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all to which she bears witness, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write.
Inspired by generations of her family, Tiffany McDaniel sets out to free the past by delivering this heartbreaking yet magical story—a remarkable novel that establishes her as one of the most important voices in American fiction.
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Set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians, this haunting coming-of-age story is technically fiction, yet it’s rooted in the real life history of McDaniel’s family. Emotionally intense.
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…to be reminded that everyone needs a Betty in life; one who bears witness to the unspoken pain, absorbs it, strikes out at it, and carries on despite it. Sometimes that Betty is you.
• Favorite read of 2020
• Impactful, harrowing, unforgettable
• Lyrical prose & captivating storytelling
“I remember the fierce love and devotion as much as I remember the violence.”
I almost put off reading this book. I started it, read a few pages, and decided I wasn’t in the mood to read it right then. I then read a review on Goodreads that spoke of the impact the book had the reader and how it was one of the best books he’s ever read. I respect this reviewer (don’t always agree with him) but decided it was worth giving this book another chance. I am so glad I did.
To me this book consists of two separate themes. The first is the love of nature and its bounty. The second is the horror one human can do against another.
When I was a young girl and woman I read quite a few books by Gene Stratton-Porter and fell in love with the world she wrote about which was the Limberlost Swamp country of Indiana. Her books were almost poetic as they described the beauty and magic of that country.
That is what author McDaniel brings to BETTY as she writes about the foothills of the Ohio Appalachians.
Betty is a girl born to a Cherokee father and a white mother during a time that just wasn’t done. The story covers the years 1909 through the early 1970s. She has many siblings and the family moves around a lot at first, finally settling back outside Breathed, Ohio. They live in impoverished circumstances but their father draws the family close with his stories of nature and plants and family. I especially loved his story of the glass heart and the bird that lives within.
But the other side of this story is horrific with sexual abuse and madness and tragedy. The story doesn’t shy away from the horrors but turns them to the light for all to see. In that way it reminds me of the book PUSH by Sapphire that I read a few years ago.
Yes, this is one of the best books I’ve read but it was deeply unsettling and I had to take a break once in awhile to catch my breath or just ponder the beauty of certain passages.
I highly recommend this book but be forewarned – it is a terrible mix of beauty and darkness of the soul.
I received this book from A.A. Knopf through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is a beautifully written and absolutely gut-wrenching story about a family that goes through far more than any family should ever have to. But even through the darkness, the main character, Betty, was still able to be a guiding light for this family.
Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
For me, this book felt like a never-ending series of gut punches. The number of things that this poor girl dealt with while growing up was so intense. From racism to some very violent acts she witnessed within her family, it’s amazing to me that she was able to still stay positive.
One of the most difficult parts for me was seeing something really dark happen, to be immediately followed by something lighter as Betty tried to get the darkness out of her head. Of course, some of the darkness stuck around, deeply ingrained in her mind and in her stories that she buried. But it was heartbreaking to me that she had to go through a lot of this, let alone that most of it happened when she was so young and didn’t get understand the full extent of what was happening.
Even more heartbreaking was realizing that she actually did understand, and perhaps on a deeper level than anyone could have realized.
So a heads up to anyone who picks this one up, it needs a whole slew of trigger warnings. There are elements of homophobia, incest, suicide, self-harm, murder, rape, child abuse, abortion, child death, a dog death, and more.
But the darkness was only part of it!
There were so many beautiful scenes too. Like Betty offering to help Lint whenever he feels a storm brewing in his mind. Trustin working on his art or painting eyes on Lint’s rocks. Betty and Flossie putting their goodnights in a jar for Fraya. All of the kids working in the garden with their dad. And so much more!
The elements that were shared about the Cherokee culture was absolutely wonderful to read about. This certainly made me want to get back in touch with nature again. The father in the story also really reminded me of my Papa, who believe in plant-based things over western world medicines.
So yes, while there was a lot of darkness, there was also a lot of love, loyalty, and hope! The writing style was absolutely beautiful, and flowed like poetry in some areas.
At the end of the book, I felt totally exhausted, but I’m so glad that I read this. What a wonderful, but difficult read! I have never read anything like it.
This book will make your blood boil. It will make you want to scream at the unfairness of it all. It will totally get under your skin. But most of all, it will show you how resilient people are when faced with the most impossible things, and it will fill you with hope.
Rating this one a 4/5 as I don’t think I would personally be able to read this again. But I certainly highly recommend this one to all that are able to read it, just mind the trigger warnings.