Betty

Betty is basically everything I wanted [b:Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582135294l/36809135.SY75.jpg 58589364] to be, and then some. A sprawling, beautifully descriptive girls' coming-of-age with a rural setting and heaps of brutality thrown at a protagonist far too young to confront all she survives. First of all, pretty much assume that if a content warning exists, it applies to Betty. Examples include but are not limited to incest, pedophilia, rape, parental abuse, death of pets (I will never recover from this part), institutionalization, self-harm, suicide, murder, sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, slurs, I am not kidding; this many terrible things happen. Approach this title with caution. It is rough, and I feel like I have to say that outright. That said, if you have the stomach for it, it will win your heart. And by win I mean break.There are lots of lessons in Betty:-How marrying or parenting people of color doesn't automatically make a white person any less racist-How trauma begets trauma, and simply knowing about what those you love have endured can be its own staggering burden to bear-How supporting those with mental illness does not always mean taking them to doctors or hospitals, and in some cases means preventing just that-How racism is overtly taught, and how classism compounds racism and sexism-How men can teach their daughters and wives that girls are capable and powerful, worthy of leadership and respect-How the impact of kind, supportive men matters until it doesn't, when you're at the mercy of so many more men who are aggressively the oppositePerhaps most of all, though, Betty is a book about a father who makes whimsy out of misery, a man quick to remind those who have no fight left in them that there is magic to be found and reason to hope. It's about a man who never gives up on and never stops believing in his broken family of broken people, and a daughter who follows his lead.If you liked [b:Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582135294l/36809135.SY75.jpg 58589364], [b:The Female of the Species 25812109 The Female of the Species Mindy McGinnis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455917180l/25812109.SY75.jpg 45668311], [b:Okay for Now 9165406 Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388860777l/9165406.SY75.jpg 14044509], [b:Sweep 37811512 Sweep The Story of a Girl and Her Monster Jonathan Auxier https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536675436l/37811512.SX50.jpg 59489664], or memoirs like [b:The Glass Castle 7445 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523542886l/7445.SY75.jpg 2944133] and [b:Educated 35133922 Educated Tara Westover https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1506026635l/35133922.SY75.jpg 53814228], and you've braced yourself, pick up Betty.