Ismerene

A fantastic addition to literature on this period of tragedy. Writing was crisp, to the point, and didn't embellish. It does a great job of illustrating the valid frustration the FBI/ATF had while trying to negotiate with Koresh, and the Davidians frustration with what amounted to torture tactics on the government's part. It does “lean” one way, but uses facts for support of that stance. I didn't feel beaten over the head with conclusions.
A small part at the end discusses how this ties in with the problem of militas today, from how Waco influenced the OKC Bombing to Alex Jones and his presence at a Waco anniversary gathering. This section was smaller than I hoped, but also served as a jumping board for other books I can look into for a deeper dive into this subject.

Though clocking in at a short 147 pages, [b:The Laws of the Skies 42372424 The Laws of the Skies Gr??goire Courtois https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552177777l/42372424.SY75.jpg 52585140] manage to pack punch after punch after punch - literally AND figuratively, to the point where it becomes almost darkly comical. There is no feel good story here, no satisfying conclusion or moral to be learned. It's death, child death, and little more. Saw this reviewed on tiktok, and thought I'd give it a whirl despite the low rating and the obvious subject matter. It doesn't hold back letting you know exactly what type of story it is, and the tension is created knowing the deaths that will occur, leaving you to only guess how they will come about. That tension was punctured with each subsequent incident, however, as it started to come off like The Gashlycrumb Tinies. I'm not sure if this was on purpose, or if it was because there was little to no story to carry them - the tragedies were the story - but it became darkly comedic in a not-funny-ironic sort of way. Even though I don't hate this book, it doesn't add anything to it's genre or really anything, in my opinion. The ending was less than a page long. The other issue that heavily contributed to it's rating was the style of writing. At certain points, it was well-done, but would occasionally devolve into paragraph long spindles of thought that splintered until my eyes glazed over and I lost whatever point author attempted to make. No 7 year old had thought spirals like that, and it only served to add to the heightened absurdity of the entire novella. If you're morbidly curious - feel free to pick this up. But understand it's focus is only on the tragedies, and little else. I regret reading only because it doesn't really serve any purpose except to be depressing.

This is the toughest, most reluctant 5 stars I will ever give a novel. I hated every second of it and yet, [b:The End of Alice 75479 The End of Alice A.M. Homes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336321638l/75479.SY75.jpg 2702599] excelled at what it set out to do. Yes, the content that is described in the synopsis is present, and it pulls no punches; you know exactly what kind of novel you're in for from page 1. But it is far from cheap, and as the novel unspools in a beautiful-prose-with-horrible words way, you find the narrator may not be as reliable as you thought, and that situations and memories are blending together, past and present. This is the first book that made me close it for a moment to collect myself (Second place for that honor belongs to [b:Sister, Maiden, Monster 60784461 Sister, Maiden, Monster Lucy A. Snyder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1649700559l/60784461.SY75.jpg 95849272]'s “brain honey”... HURK). I genuinely gave thought to putting it down permanently. There are no heroes here, only victims, and those who took their victimhood and turned it into outright evil. It is disgusting, intriguing, sad, and abhorrent. The ending is perfectly ambiguous. If you're looking for the most fucked up book that doesn't rely on cheap shocks, congratulations, you've found it. I will never touch this novel again.

There's a reason why this book is rated so highly, and quite frankly, it deserves every single star.

I've never read a book like this that has such an enveloping, all-encompassing way of conveying the terror and grief and hope of that day. Viewpoints are often only a few sentences (up to a paragraph) long, but it creates a snappy and through 360 degree view of how the events unfolded and how each story intertwined. There's very little author interference; the viewpoints are presented as-is.

I felt raked over and absolutely exhausted when I finally turned the last page and closed this book. It is heavy. It is inspiring. It is a must read.

My review will echo others. In short, this is an deadened, back-and-forth circular discussion on the topic of whether to leave or stay in light of horrific abuse, all viewed through a religious Mennonite lens. The story throws some jabs, and the ending did pull some heartstrings, but ultimately I'm left confused and annoyed.

I think the biggest misstep in this novel that cascaded into other issues is the method of which the story is told. No speech is direct. Everything, save for our narrator, is spoken in passive statements, and it serves to deaden a lot of emotion about the situation at hand, as well as removing a large bit of personality from each character. There were a few moments of creepy, chill-up-your-spine implications and sudden, graphic depictions - all of which had heavier impact due to the otherwise banal narration - but overall it only served to turn much of the story into a slog.

The narrator's gender didn't bother me as much as his long-winded inserts did. Separate from him explaining certain cultural nuances, the insert of his background or his encounters outside the meeting felt frustrating. What really chapped my hide however were the comments and odes about one character he pines for. In the context of what this novel is centered on, it comes across as almost... creepy. It's all soft and emotional, but like, she's pregnant because she was raped. I'm not sure if this is to grow the narrator's character, or to illustrate a statement on men overall, but either way it was, also, annoying.

Based on other reviews, it seems as if the choices made here were stylistic, in which case I can confidently say the style is not for me. I think if this had been handled a bit differently, and maybe some choices - in narrator, particularly - were changed, this would be rated much higher. As it stands however, I didn't much care for it.