Gather the Daughters

Posted on 10 May 2017 by Jennie Melamed

Never Let Me Go meets The Giver in this haunting debut about a cult on an isolated island, where nothing is as it seems.Years ago, just before the country was incinerated to wasteland, ten men and their families colonized an island off the coast They built a radical society of ancestor worship, controlled breeding, and the strict rationing of knowledge and history Only the Wanderers chosen male descendants of the original ten are allowed to cross to the wastelands, where they scavenge for detritus among the still smoldering fires.The daughters of these men are wives in training At the first sign of puberty, they face their Summer of Fruition, a ritualistic season that drags them from adolescence to matrimony They have children, who have children, and when they are no longer useful, they take their final draught and die But in the summer, the younger children reign supreme With the adults indoors and the pubescent in Fruition, the children live wildly they fight over food and shelter, free of their fathers hands and their mothers despair And it is at the end of one summer that little Caitlin Jacob sees something so horrifying, so contradictory to the laws of the island, that she must share it with the others.Born leader Janey Solomon steps up to seek the truth At seventeen years old, Janey is so unwilling to become a woman, she is slowly starving herself to death Trying urgently now to unravel the mysteries of the island and what lies beyond, before her own demise, she attempts to lead an uprising of the girls that may be their undoing Gather The Daughters is a smoldering debut dark and energetic, compulsively readable, Melamed s novel announces her as an unforgettable new voice in fiction. Read Gather the Daughters – kino-fada.fr Quite a terrible world for women is created within these pages Exactly what these girls lives are like are gradually unfolded and the full horror is exposed I was consumed by this story, but almost feel guilty saying that, sort of like the gawkers who stop to gaze upon a traffic fatality It was though the girls, who we get to know quite well, that made me keep reading Girls who banded together to change things, and save themselves Beautiful, courageous young ladies What has happened in the Quite a terrible world for women is created within these pages Exactly what these girls lives are like are gradually unfolded and the full horror is exposed I was consumed by this story, but almost feel guilty saying that, sort of like the gawkers who stop to gaze upon a traffic fatality It was though the girls, who...When a daughter submits to her father s will, when a wife submits to her husband, when a woman is a helper to a man, we are worshiping the ancestors and their vision Jennie Melamed s Gather the Daughters bowled me over inways than one It was haunting, arresting, thought provoking and confrontational in all the best ways possible It pressed up against the boundaries of my personal comfort levels and then pushed passed themThiswas a novel with something to say, and Melamed s voiceWhen a daughter submits to her father s will, when a wife submits to her husband, when a woman is a helper to a man, we are worshiping the ancestors and their vision Jennie Melamed s Gather the Daughters bowled me over inways than one It was haunting, arresting, thought provoking and confrontational in all the best ways possible It pressed up against the boundaries of my personal comfort...Endure I have done it and so can you Years ago, the ancestors escaped the ravaged Wastelands to colonize a small island and start a new society They wrote Our Book to line out the strict hierarchy and structure that would dictate their lives Their descendants still follow those rules Life in the agrarian society can be brutal, especially for girls, so the children are given a taste of freedom in the summer They re allowed to run wild until they return home in the fall As one of the you Endure I have done it and so can you Years ago, the ancestors escaped the ravaged Wastelands to colonize a small island and start a new society They wrote Our Book to line out the strict hierarchy and structure that would dictate their lives Their descendants still follow those rules Life in the agrarian society can be brutal, especially for girls, so the children are given a taste of freedom in the summer They re allowed to run wild until they return home in the fall As one ...Half a amateurish, histrionic, incongruous, ridiculous, dysgusting, dystopian star 2017 Award Worst Read of the Year This book was absolutely wretched The writing was amateurish from being repetitively flowery and ornate to incongruous dialogue and behaviors of both children and adults that did not make any sense The book started off somewhat interesting and then she tried to mash up all sorts of previous dystopian ideas into this book into a most slimy and soupy mess I skimmed the Half a amateurish, histrionic, incongruous, ridiculous, dysgusting, dystopian star 2017 Award Worst Read of the Year This book was absolutely wretched The writing was amateurish from being repetitively flowery and ornate to incongruous dialogue and behaviors of both children and adults that did not make any sense The book started off somewhat ... Gather the Daughters is about a small community that lives with no electricity or modern conveniences on an island They have a church made of stone that sinks into the ground and a holy book written by the ancestors These ancestors are saint like founders who, according to tradition, fled the wider world to preserve the human race during an apocalypse.Traditions are dark and strange on the island, but not questioned because they were written by the ancestors.The tale is told from the viewpoi Gather the Daughters is about a small community that lives with no electricity or modern conveniences on an island They have a church made of stone that sinks into the ground and a holy book written by the ancestors These ancestors are saint like founders who, according to tradition, fled the wider world to preserve the human race during an apocalypse.Traditions are dark and strange on the island, but not questioned because they were written by the ancestors.The tale is told ...Q At least we know autumn is coming And a winter, and a spring, and then another summer c This felt forced a bit Disturbing and disconnected as well Multiple protagonists, living oh so different and at the same time similar lives A paedophile commumnity, a sect, an apocalypsis afthermath The world of something else sprinkled with a healthy dose of Margo Atwood Q A calescent sun shatters on the surface of the water, luminous shards slipping about on the tiny waves like a broken, Q At least we know autumn is coming And a winter, and a spring, and then another summer c This felt forced a bit Disturbing and disconnected as well Multiple protagonists, living oh so different and at the same time similar lives A paedophile commumnity, a sect, an apocalypsis afthermath The world of something else sprinkled with a healthy dose of Margo Atwood Q A calescent sun shatters on the surface of the water, luminous shards slipping about on the tiny ... This book has references to child abuse and incest While it is not overly graphic and a lot of the abuse is implied, it is an integral part of the story line This can make this book tough to read at timesI always feel odd when I like a book that has such horrors of human nature involved, but this book really held me spellbound Told from 4 separate POV s, all children ranging from the ages of 13 17 the story unfolds on an island where it quickly becomes apparent that these children are This book has references to child abuse and incest While it is not overly graphic and a lot of the abuse is implied, it is an in...Holy macaroni This book was phenomenal in so many ways It s straight into my Short List of my Top 17 Books of 2017 The book reminded me at times of one of my all time favourite novels The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood High praise indeed from me I m bursting over with things to share about it but want to let it all settle before writing my review This was an emotional read I can say this get this book, right now, read it You ll never forget this book I m in awe ...I ve struggled to review this title because I have mixed feelings.On the one hand, I m weary of the women as breeder trope so common in post apocalyptic fiction On the other hand, there are reasons this is so prevalent.On the one hand, I find the child abuse in this, even though it is often offstage, very disturbing On the other hand, well It s not unbelievable.On the one hand, I was confused about the world building On the other hand, the ending makes everything very clear, or at least pr I ve struggled to review ...A talented new authorI m sure that we will hearingfrom Jennie Melamed This is a debut for her and I will be looking for new books by her Gather the Daughters is very well written It s the subject matter of the book that I disliked.When I first started reading the book, I read too fast I was about 25% through when I realized that what I was reading made no sense This is not a bo...

10 May 2017

Jennie Melamed