Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Penguin (2019), 352 pages
Description
"Deena starts receiving letters from her older sister Mandy, whom everyone thinks is dead, claiming that their family's blighted history is actually a curse and leading Deena on a cross-country hunt to find her sister and heal their family's rotten past--or rip it apart forever"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member Othemts
A Dublin teenager, Deena, on the precipice of her 17th birthday accidentally outself herself to her much older sister Rachel and her conservative father. Her other, wilder sister Mandy (Rachel's twin) goes missing, and when her car is found by some cliffs on the other side of Ireland, she is
Instead, Deena goes on a road trip with her best friend, a mixed-race bisexual boy named Finn, and meets a previously unknown niece and an attractive young woman along the way. They pick up clues in the form of letters from Mandy about the troubled history of women in Deena's family going back centuries which includes forced pregnancy, rape, ostracization, accusations of witchcraft, abortion, and imprisonment in the notorious Magdelen laundries. The whole time they are pursued by three banshees adding an element of magical realism.
This movie ties together a story of contemporary sexism, homophobia, and discrimination in Ireland with folklore and history. But does it with very little subtlety. My mind wandered a lot during this book but let's chalk that up to reader error. I'm sure this is a perfectly good book for young adults who want stories of adventure and family history with positive female and LGBT characters.
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presumed dead by everyone but Deena. Instead, Deena goes on a road trip with her best friend, a mixed-race bisexual boy named Finn, and meets a previously unknown niece and an attractive young woman along the way. They pick up clues in the form of letters from Mandy about the troubled history of women in Deena's family going back centuries which includes forced pregnancy, rape, ostracization, accusations of witchcraft, abortion, and imprisonment in the notorious Magdelen laundries. The whole time they are pursued by three banshees adding an element of magical realism.
This movie ties together a story of contemporary sexism, homophobia, and discrimination in Ireland with folklore and history. But does it with very little subtlety. My mind wandered a lot during this book but let's chalk that up to reader error. I'm sure this is a perfectly good book for young adults who want stories of adventure and family history with positive female and LGBT characters.
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LibraryThing member clrichm
I really liked almost all of this book--the history, the time jumps in the narrative that showed the lives of different generations of women, the queer relationship portrayal. I was simply left scratching my head by the ending. I still don't really think I get what the protagonist was initially
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trying to accomplish with how she handled things, and my head spun a little at the switch from magic to "oops, not magic" and back to "maybe magic?" and on and on. But the rest of the book made up for that, in my opinion. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lauranthalas
Deena’s sister Mandy has disappeared and is presumed dead; another bad thing to happen to Deena’s family. Deena refuses to believe that her sister Mandy is actually gone and her theory is supported when letters start arriving after Mandy’s funeral. The letters from Mandy are about their
The first 3/4 of the book I really enjoyed and then it sort of lost me at the end. I’ll definitely be checking out other books by this author.
Warning: this is not a light hearted book. It covers some deep topics.
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family’s history and curse, a curse that is handed down through the generations. Now Deena is on a mission to find her sister.The first 3/4 of the book I really enjoyed and then it sort of lost me at the end. I’ll definitely be checking out other books by this author.
Warning: this is not a light hearted book. It covers some deep topics.
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LibraryThing member roses7184
Oh my goodness, this book. I barely had an inkling of what All The Bad Apples had in store for me, and I’m actually glad for that. It made discovering this book all the more bittersweet. See, there is a deep message under all the beautiful, lyrical writing. By the time I reached the ending of
Deena lives in a world where being a “nice, normal girl” is what is expected. Raised by her older sister, judged from afar by her absent father, attending a strict Catholic school, Deena feels hemmed in. She notes the girls around her who are brave enough to stand tall, to show their true colors, but she doesn’t know how to be one of them. This is why I loved Deena, and why I’m so glad that she was our main character. She wasn’t immediately fierce, but instead her bravery grew as she went on the journey to find her missing sister. A hero’s journey, if you will. Each piece of the puzzle that fell into place, each lesson learned from her ancestors, brought her closer and closer to the person that she wanted to be. It was a beautiful, brutally honest journey, and it was just perfect.
I loved how Fowley-Doyle was able to bring in so much rich, albeit damning, history into this story. Deena’s journey is told in alternating chapters between current day Ireland, and historical Ireland. Within these chapters, the author starkly lays out the similarities between people who lived hundereds of years ago, and the girls who are involved in the modern day story. It’s terrifying how much similarity there is between the two of them. There’s a definite focus on the people considered to be on the fringes of society, or the bad apples if you will. People who dared to love outside of the “norm”. People who looked different, or acted different, or merely wanted something more than what society told them they should have. I can’t express enough how poignant all of that is. I don’t want to spoil anything, since this is something to discover, but reading the author’s note at the end broke my heart in two. I had no idea of this history before this book, and I’m so glad that it was all laid out for me in such a spectacular way.
Admittedly, you’ll need to suspend disbelief to really appreciate this story. It reads much like the fairy tales of old, where good things happen to good people and true villains are as human as the rest of us. It reads in an almost magical mannner, blurring that line between the real world and the fairy tale one that lurks underneath. I thought it was a perfect way to tell this sometimes tragic and sometimes hopeful tale. I ended with a full heart, and that’s pretty much the best explanation I can give you as to why you need to read this book.
If you’re looking for something historically based, that will enchant you and make you cry, this is your book.
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this story, I was in tears. I’d honestly be surprised if you aren’t as well.Deena lives in a world where being a “nice, normal girl” is what is expected. Raised by her older sister, judged from afar by her absent father, attending a strict Catholic school, Deena feels hemmed in. She notes the girls around her who are brave enough to stand tall, to show their true colors, but she doesn’t know how to be one of them. This is why I loved Deena, and why I’m so glad that she was our main character. She wasn’t immediately fierce, but instead her bravery grew as she went on the journey to find her missing sister. A hero’s journey, if you will. Each piece of the puzzle that fell into place, each lesson learned from her ancestors, brought her closer and closer to the person that she wanted to be. It was a beautiful, brutally honest journey, and it was just perfect.
I loved how Fowley-Doyle was able to bring in so much rich, albeit damning, history into this story. Deena’s journey is told in alternating chapters between current day Ireland, and historical Ireland. Within these chapters, the author starkly lays out the similarities between people who lived hundereds of years ago, and the girls who are involved in the modern day story. It’s terrifying how much similarity there is between the two of them. There’s a definite focus on the people considered to be on the fringes of society, or the bad apples if you will. People who dared to love outside of the “norm”. People who looked different, or acted different, or merely wanted something more than what society told them they should have. I can’t express enough how poignant all of that is. I don’t want to spoil anything, since this is something to discover, but reading the author’s note at the end broke my heart in two. I had no idea of this history before this book, and I’m so glad that it was all laid out for me in such a spectacular way.
Admittedly, you’ll need to suspend disbelief to really appreciate this story. It reads much like the fairy tales of old, where good things happen to good people and true villains are as human as the rest of us. It reads in an almost magical mannner, blurring that line between the real world and the fairy tale one that lurks underneath. I thought it was a perfect way to tell this sometimes tragic and sometimes hopeful tale. I ended with a full heart, and that’s pretty much the best explanation I can give you as to why you need to read this book.
If you’re looking for something historically based, that will enchant you and make you cry, this is your book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member whatsmacksaid
Four and a half stars—it’s not a perfect book, but it is close. The story is an emotional roller coaster in the best way. It’s angry, desperate, and triumphant by turns, and very very feminist throughout. Also, banshees have never been so terrifying. Read it at night under the covers for
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maximum effect. Show Less
Awards
Irish Book Award (Nominee — 2019)
Westchester Fiction Award (Winner — 2020)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2020)
Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction (Shortlist — 2020)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2020)
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 (Selection — 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2019-08-27
Physical description
7.8 inches
ISBN
0241333962 / 9780241333969