I really like RR’s writing, and am looking forward to reading more by him. This book was written in 2011 so it doesn’t quite hold up as it used to. I think if this book was written for women, it would be very different (it’s clearly geared towards men- at one point he even said “women need to find their own heroes to look up to!”) I really love his gentleness and broad thinking, but I find some of the ways he talks about gender, younger folks, are dated now (though they weren’t at the time. Still - I’d highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to go further in their faith, feeling stuck, or who has been through multiple crises.

This book took a bit for me to get through in the beginning, but wow, I’m really glad I stuck with it. Perfect fiction for those who grew up like me and are deconstructing. It is a lot of violence (and the author says so too) but what he is doing in this story metaphorically is some really powerful stuff.
I think some scenes could have been tightened a little more, and at time, I wondered if this book was trying to do too much. But after finishing, I don’t think it was too much. If this is his first book? Wow. I can’t wait to see what else this author does. If you are deconstructing and have a horror bent, this book will be a comfort. (Also there is romance!!) Highly recommended!

I finally got ahold of this and read it in an evening. It’s definitely disturbing, and you never really quite warm up to it. I still don’t quite know what I think - it is delightfully dystopian and I was fascinated with the world that was created, but it is definitely a combo of “over the top” and “oh man, I could totally see this happening. Still - I kept wanting to know what happens, and even tho the ending felt predictable, there were aspects of it that surprised me. 

The dinner with the hunters was fascinating, and the scene with the truck being overturned at the end was also wild.
I didn’t expect Marcos to be the one to kill Jasmine - I suspected Cecelia to do it.

I would love to read this in its original language. The translation felt a little clunky but I bet the Spanish is spell binding. I adored this very dark and twisty book!

Incredible retelling of how biblical womanhood was made to control and squelch women from their God-given power. Barr undoes a number of tired tropes and re-interprets them in a more historically accurate and poignant way. She has a much better imagination around how women are seen in the bible and in the eyes of the Divine than most theologians have had historically. Recommended.

Helpful book for looking into family patterns, childhood wounds, and why we have those gaping holes of loneliness. It’s not you - you’re human and wired for love!