The Grace Year
Ratings129
Average rating3.7
4,0 ⭐
Lo inicie y no puede soltarlo hasta que lo termine. La narrativa es muy buena y la protagonista es memorable, siento que siguió sus principios de inicio a fin.
La historia es excelente, ame el tema de la sororidad entre las mujeres, el lenguaje de las flores y los mensajes/señales que estaban ahí desde el inicio pero que solo logramos comprender hasta que la protagonista ata cabos. He de confesar que inicialmente pensaba que los furtivos eran los mismos hombres que entregaban los velos, pero el desarrollo que la autora le entrego a estos tipos me parece bastante bueno, lo único que no siento no me aclararon fue que sucedía con los “trozos” que estos llevaban al poblado, es decir ¿eran medicina? ¿Eran afrodisiacos?
En fin fue una lectura muy agradable que me dejo satisfecha y sin duda alguna recomendaría.
Loved, loved, loved this book! I couldn't put it down and found myself continually antsy to get back to reading it when I had to stop. An eye opening look at what could happen when women are devalued and dehumanized, then pitted against each other for survival. And how the world can be changed if they are brave enough to stand up and fight back, even if it's in subtle ways.
did not like the main character. did not like the world or really understand it and what the magic was. and then there was the most out of pocket romance ever
I found this book very readable, I enjoyed it and it didn't drag at all. The concept was interesting, and ofc I'm gonna pick up anything that can be described as a gender swapped lord of the flies.
The main issue that I did have here was the love story. In a book that's making a clear point about patriarchal brutality, it didn't seem a little bit strange to include a cutesy romance between a literal 16 year old and an adult man whose entire job is to hunt teenage girls to sell their body parts? Even without his job role, he's a grown man and she's a child, and that is not remotely examined or painted as anything other than romantic. I found it incredibly jarring in a book that is fairly explicitly ABOUT misogyny. When he died I was glad about it, which didn't seem like the author's intention. I'd have preferred a sapphic romance or no romance at all.
I also wish the other girls had been given more characterisation, only one really was to any degree. The main character is very Not Like Other Girls, and I don't feel like we really saw her develop beyond that through the book, with just a quick turnaround in the last few pages.
Overall enjoyable read but not really doing what it set out to, IMO.
3.5. The concept was very interesting. I would have loved for there to be more of an escalation in the first part of the book. It felt like the most interesting developments were described in the narration and I wanted more scenes. I also didn't love the romance storyline. It seemed out of place and fairly cliche.
4.5
Lovely writing and never a dull moment. Shows the power of government and influence and how we all must have our eyes open.
i had really high hopes for this book. the description makes it come off as this female lord-of-the-flies-esque feminine rage type story with strong hints to overthrowing the patriarchy and rebelling against the system that they've suffered under forever.
(the rest of this review will be spoilers)
except that never fucking happens. the whole system of the grace year and the men(derogatory) and the poachers has you on the edge of your seat to be sure. the first half of the book, before the grace year starts through fall and a bit of winter, was incredible. seeing how some of the girls want to work together and how some of them just see each other as enemies was a fascinating study of how the patriarchy turns women against each other and then they end up furthering the system that puts them down. this was shaping up to be an incredible story.
and then tierney falls in love with a poacher. you know. one of the guys that hunts and skins and cuts up grace year girls like her every year?
to say i was massively disappointed that this story ended up being more of a romance than a feminine rage book would be an understatement. even if the author tried to humanize ryker by having him admit that the only way to feed his family and take them to a better life was to hunt the girls – he still hunted the fucking girls. she literally finds a notebook with a sketch of her with dotted lines where he PLANNED to cut her up and still thought “oh its okay!! he's different!!”
there were other choices he could've made to support his family. and i figured he was set for death, especially when she actually decides to run away with him (because god forbid she actually try to take care of herself like grown woman, like she's been saying she could the entire book) but the fact that she ends up in the EXACT position she has been FEARING for the entire book: a mother and wife, and she's just?? okay with it?? because her daughter is fulfilling this prophetic dream she's had instead of her standing up and doing it herself? and then I'm pretty sure she DIES?
i was just...so disappointed in the direction this book took. i honestly would've dnfed when i realized the direction it was going with tierney and the poacher but i was already halfway through the book and i figured i might as well finish it.
the atmosphere in this book was so good, i don't even know how to explain it.
i really do enjoy a good dystopian story.
3.5 stars.
There was a place in the middle of the book, where it was a love story. And that felt forced and weird, and also, kinda icky. Tierney knew nothing of the world, but was able to have sex with another person, a man, who she barely trusted.
However, the last third of the book, that was what I expected, finally, there was something going on and finally, Tierney embraced the others and the grace year.
holy shit. I hate this book so much. It is such an absolute pain in the ass. I didn't like any of the characters until the very very end. I think its stupid, and nothing was really solved. Like.... yes now we know that the magic is not real, but the grace year isnt gone. rykers dead. and micheal is there. God i really did not like it. and then ending on a cliff hanger that doesnt even need another book to finish is just cruel. I guess its fine as is but gosh i really hoped something more would happen like, idk, when tiereny gets back she tells everyone how the grace year is a bunch of bull shit ? what abt that author. then there could have been a war or something. jesus fucking christ man. What a painful book.
This is the book that made me question why we're reading so much dystopian fiction, particularly stories that put girls and women in jeopardy. Is it because we feel marginalized and disempowered but can say “at least it's not this bad?” There is no world building here, just a village that has a betrothal ceremony and a test for all girls of marrying age. The girls are probably all white. The society is agrarian. The men are cruel. But we don't know why. I could nitpick the writing, but it's not terrible. What I am critical of is that this really seems like a facsimile. We know almost nothing about the characters beyond the role each plays in this violent, bloody story . There is a redemption arc, a hint of change, but it's hard to care because we don't know enough about the society in the book to feel invested. It feels manipulative and empty. The book is critical of this oppressive society and horrific ritual, but in the end, there's no real rebellion. This weird social contract is intact, presumably for a sequel. One and a half stars.
“Your eyes are wide open, but you see nothing.”
This book is... fucked up.
It's got gore, magic, feminism, adventure, murder.
The ending hurt me.
I don't really even know how to rate this because it was so good but also so... awful? But in a good way.
Hunger games x Lord of the flies x Maze runner + some unnecessary romances
Great atmosphere (spooky/ disturbing)
Unexpected twists
But I didn't like the romance so 3 ⭐️
When I started, I was skeptical of this white feminist-y genre of scifi and though it does lack intersectionality, it ended up a riveting and tightly woven YA fantasy story I really enjoyed!
This books started out as one of the most frustrating books i've ever read. But her growth from ‘pick me' girl boss feminism into a holistic feminism that truly supports and carries the women around her with humility was interesting to see.
The first quarter of the book was also plagued with telling not showing in an effort to quickly establish the character and her circumstances and it drove me nuuuuts. Pretty bad writing choice. If this book were traditionally written in chapters, i would've never made it past the first one or two. I wanted to initially give this book a half star review. She eventually grew into the story she was writing but it took way to long, making this book feel like a draft rather than a completed, published work.
**3.75
Oh wow. Ok.
So that wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I also can't say I was disappointed. I wish I knew about the romance aspect more going into it because that came as a bit of a shock but I still enjoyed that part.
The writing was definitely beautiful and you can absolutely see the author's past experience as a horror author shine through. However, some of the writing was pretty unclear. For example, Tierney would be thinking about running and it wouldn't be clear that she actually started running until a couple paragraphs later when she was already running.
Also, even though the story was in first person, it felt that we weren't really in Tierney's head. We didn't know what she was thinking a lot of the time, or at least not explicitly. It's probably just a personal choice, but I really enjoy when we know a character's plan as they're executing it and there wasn't a lot of that in this book.
(Also, even though she was clever, the main character was... just a tad dumb at points lmao)
That ending, though. Wow.
Everything about the last part, called “The Returning”, was amazing. It was a like a call-to-action and, though it was rather abrupt and I wasn't that crazy about the final line, I personally really enjoyed the vagueness of the ending. It leaves it open to interpretation.
One of my favorite quotes has to be “ She's so incredibly grateful, but she shouldn't have to feel grateful for this—for being treated like a basic human being. None of us should.”
Wow
I just loved and hated this book, and it was amazing!
[PT]
Bom, quando eu achava que a era das distopias já tinha acabado, em 2019 saiu o livro O ano de Graça, ou Grace Year em original. E devo dizer que isto foi uma das leituras mais psicadélicas e fascinantes que eu li.
Voltamos à Era Negra modernizada, onde a religião predomina todas as decisões e a mulher é vista apenas como um “acessório” nesta sociedade patriarcal. Além disso, a mulher ao nascer já é impura pois porque tem a capacidade de seduzir o homem e isso é inadmissível. De forma as mulheres serem purificadas, elas passam um ano naquilo que se chama “Ano de Graça” quando atingem os 16 anos, no entanto, nenhuma mulher mais velha fala sobre esse ano e sabe-se que este afeta muito o estado físico e psicológico das mesmas. Sendo também que existem mulheres que nunca voltam. Acompanhamos então uma rapariga de 16 anos Tierney James que vai para o seu Ano de Graça para ser purificada.
Devo admitir que este livro dispertou-me horror, sentimento de incapacidade e injustiça como poucos o conseguiram. Eu não consegui parar de ler até chegar ao final do livro, porque isto prendeu-me demasiado. A refleção das relações entre homens e mulheres são muito semelhantes daquilo que encontramos por vezes nos nossos dias, e também a própria relação entre mulheres pode ser aproximada às muitas relações atuais.
É um livro horrível, mas muito bem escrito!
This book is infuriating. The nicely crafted atmosphere and compelling story are suffocated by very typical and annoying YA tropes and plot devices.
3.5 rounded to a 3
When this started off I was invested and loving it but then it just dragged and dragged and I'm like can we get to the point please? I loved the concept and the way it was coming together, I just think it took much too long to get there.
I think the major problem for me was that I listened to this one because it's on Scribd and I didn't feel like buying it. The girls sounded like valley girls and snobby stuck up teenagers and it grated on my nerves. I think this would be much better read.
Usually open-ended books bother me a lot but I enjoyed the way this finished off...with hope.
Wow! What a powerful book! Tierney James is the strongest, smartest, most ambitious protagonist I have ever read. This book is The Hunger Games meets The Handmaids Tale, yet it is also very much it's own story. The theme of women being controlled by men and the hope of joining together for independence was illustrated so incredibly and powerfully. This story was written so beautifully.
I give this book 3 (3.5?) stars because, despite being very powerful and moving, I found many different chunks o