Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed.

If you are in the mood to be picked up like one of those big claw hands that grabs prizes, and then slowly dipped in a big boiling vat of misogyny, well do I have a treat for you!

Welcome to the colonization where we worship the ancestors and totally abuse our women.  As soon as they are old enough to procreate, we set them right to work, treating them like total cattle, and killing them once their purpose has been served.  I hated it so much.

I'm not giving this a low rating because I don't think that's fair.  The story is solid, it has complex characters and plot points, and it's an intriguing idea, but OMG, it made Warren Jeff's cult look like Leave it to Beaver.  I can only stomach so much hatred and mistreatment toward women.

An outstanding debut, Melamed's Gather the Daughters is a jolting and disturbing depiction of a secluded island cult where only summers afford children freedom. Reminiscent of A Handmaid's Tale meets Lord of the Flies, this is a novel whose characters linger long after the book ends. Not easily forgotten.

I was really intrigued by this book, and the plot seemed really interesting. Overall, I liked it, but it was extremely hard to follow. I even had to go back and reread several passages, which I never do.

This book was not like anything I have read before.  It's unique in it's subject matter and at times a little difficult to understand and follow, but on the whole I actually did enjoy this book.  I didn't realize I like it until I got to the end.  It's confusing at time, the characters aren't always shown in their best light, but then again, if this were a real situation, it is very believable.  The subject matter was a bit difficult, the abuses suffered were a bit off putting, but again, those kinds of abuses have and still do occur in the hidden corners of society we just don't see them.  Gather the Daughters is a book that takes some guts to get through but worth the effort in the end!

I am in charge of our Senior School library and am looking for a diverse array of new books to furnish their shelves with and inspire our young people to read a wider and more diverse range of books as they move through the senior school. It is hard sometimes to find books that will grab the attention of young people as their time is short and we are competing against technology and online entertainments.
This was a thought-provoking and well-written read that will appeal to young readers across the board. It had a really strong voice and a compelling narrative that I think would capture their attention and draw them in. It kept me engrossed and I think that it's so important that the books that we purchase for both our young people and our staff are appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible - as well as providing them with something a little 'different' that they might not have come across in school libraries before.
This was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely be purchasing a copy for school so that our young people can enjoy it for themselves. A satisfying and well-crafted read that I keep thinking about long after closing its final page - and that definitely makes it a must-buy for me!

This is an intense read. It's a few years old but it feels very timely because we are currently in the midst of a discussion about what rights women can expect regarding their own bodies. The girls on this island have even fewer rights than we do here, which is terrifying to think about. 

I was going to caution people who aren't fans of ambiguity that we don't know why things are the way they are on the island but honestly? We know exactly why. Most of the men on the island control their wives and daughters; the one decent man (comparatively speaking) does nothing to stop it. 

And the people in charge are very smart: unrelated women aren't allowed to gather unless a man is present. So obviously nothing is ever going to change. (Also, the women start to become complicit, which is not unlike life here.)

This is an excellent and enraging story. It has me questioning my assumptions about bravery and I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Recommended.

I really enjoyed the unique premise of this novel, but it was really hard to follow. The characters were not unique enough for me to keep them all straight, so it ended up being a difficult read because of that. I really wish I would have loved this one, but I didn’t.

I ended up not finishing the book. I have a hard time connecting to stories that are told from the perspective of a child, especially when we're dealing with a "world" that has different rules. I would much have a straightforward narrator tell it like it is than with the naive understanding of a child. That's just a personal preference. I also didn't like the subject matter and found myself not wanting to keep reading.

Although this book has some pretty horrific situations I enjoyed the writing and enjoyed the story!  Very good book!!

This is quite the depressing world for females. The writing was spectacular and I enjoyed the journey through the islands. The operation of this world was fascinating and horrible at the same time. Jennie writes about strong females, some following the process, some standing up and saying enough. I think a glimpse of the male perspective would have added a little to the story just to give a complete picture of everything. Overall, I would recommend this book and would really like to check out more by Jennie Melamed!

Gather the Daughters takes a familiar trope and ups the ante. Many novels explore what happens when people, often repressed or with little power, question their roles in society. Yet, few go to the extremes Ms. Melamed's debut novel does. With her study of family dynamics and the power each familial role holds in a highly patriarchal society, what she has to say not just shocks the senses but is quite memorable as well. For better or worse, you finish her novel forever changed, a rare thing in this day and age.

For not being remotely explicit in the roles of daughter, father, mother, and son, Ms. Melamed makes her points with disturbing clarity. From the opening page, readers experience discomfort without understanding why they feel this way. After all, there is nothing overt about the characters or the story that should make readers uncomfortable. Still, the feeling remains without being able to pinpoint its source. However, sentence by sentence, Ms. Melamed paints a picture not easy to ignore or avoid. The painting may be impressionistic, but there is no doubt as to its meaning and the truth displays itself in all its unsettling glory.

Gather the Daughters is like a dystopian novel on steroids. Children are not killing children, and there is no big bad government trying to rule the world. However, what does exist on the island challenges the fabric of society. It makes you question the original ancestors and the rules they established for their new society. It makes you question the ideas of obedience and the parent-child relationship as well as the more generic adult-child relationship. There are no easy answers to any of what Ms. Melamed posits; the questions alone are disturbing enough to make you wonder if you even want to know the answers. Yet, no matter how much you might wish otherwise, Gather the Daughters is not a novel easily dismissed. It finds a way to sneak into your soul, emerging when you least expect it and forcing you to examine the novel compared today's society.

I've struggled to review this title because I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I'm weary of the women-as-breeder trope so common in post-apocalyptic fiction. On the other hand, there are reasons this is so prevalent.

On the one hand, I find the child abuse in this, even though it is often "offstage," very disturbing. On the other hand, well. It's not unbelievable.

On the one hand, I was confused about the world building. On the other hand, the ending makes everything very clear, or at least provides reasons for it to be muddy. It is true that the daughters don't know enough about the world. That isn't a mistake, that's deliberate, both on the part of the author but also on the part of the men running the island they all live on. But would everyone feeling confused make it to the end?

I also very much like the rotating perspectives, always only the daughters.

Whoa.

Please tell me at least one of you thought of Joey Lawrence.

If a book can be said to be both dreadful and wonderful at the same time, then Gather the Daughters is one such book. Set in a unknown period after a fire destroys civilization, an island community is formed by ten men desiring a deeply patriarchical society. These men, now known as the ancestors, made a list of things a person shalt not do and those are the rules that govern their small society. Now the men farm, or carve, or labor outside the home, while the women keep house. Females submit to their father until they are married, and then they submit to their husbands. When their child has a child, they take their final draught. The shalt-nots are never questioned, and if women were to question them, well, bleeding out is very common in childbirth.

Janey, Amanda, Caitlin, and Vanessa are four girls living in this rustic island community. Desperate to avoid coming of age, but yearning to get away from their fathers, each girl feels trapped and helpless. They begin to question the rules that govern their lives, and that is a very, very dangerous thing to do. When one of the girls is murdered for her desire for something better for her own daughter, the girls begin a resistance.

Eerie, bleak, and full of dread, Jennie Melamed’s debut novel is excellent. Her beautiful prose balances the grim existence of the characters, and the multiple narrators works to flesh out life on the island. For those who enjoy dystopian fiction, this will be my go-to recommendation of the summer.

This is a book I don't really know how to rate because I don't really know how it made me feel. 'Disgust' is one answer that comes to mind, but the kind of disgust that comes with distasteful actions from the characters as opposed to disgust with the author. 
I think I was most horrified by the fact that it really wasn't that difficult to imagine a news outlet reporting a story like this. 

I don't think 'enjoyed' is quite the right word to describe the experience of reading <i>Gather the Daughters</i> but I'll confess I was riveted. I'd recommend this book to fans of <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> and then ask them to come back for a long discussion!

Gather the Daughters is a deeply unsettling tale of a cult like group of people trying to forge life in a world destroyed.

Hoooooo boy. Let me start with a trigger warning, which I'll explain in a minute, but just imagine giant flashing lights here. So this story is set on an isolated island, in a community that fled the wastelands of our world several generations ago and set up their own little religious cult community. And here is where the giant flashing trigger warning lights are: because it is a community where one of the central tenets is incestuous sexual abuse of children. And also the usual patriarchal cult bullshit where girls are married off as soon as they're fertile. The story is told from the POVs of several girls, nearing or just past puberty, and all are heartbreaking and real. The other stuff going on is not too hard to figure out if you've ever read a book or seen a movie before, but the story itself is well-done, if utterly nauseating. Another one of those that is well-written but that I for one plan never to revisit and cannot really recommend it in good faith unless you have a strong stomach. B/B+.

Gather the Daughters deals with a religious community living on an island. The dread and horror creep along until it is clear these characters are a part of a cult, and a deeply disturbing one at that. (Warning: this book alludes to both sexual and physical abuse (though they are not, thankfully, shown in any great detail) and the indoctrination that often accompanies them when the victims are children.) 

The young daughters are the focus here, their joys, their losses, their discoveries, their attempts to assert autonomy. Melamed reminds the reader of both the great joys of childhood as well as the brutality. This is difficult subject matter, but I flew through the narrative, hoping against hope for these girls. I see that this is a debut novel, and I will look forward to what Melanesia produces next.

It was clear from the beginning that this book would be strange. It had a quality about t that reminded me of The Giver but the child molestation/incest angle made it beyond uncomfortable. To the book’s credit, none of this is actually described- mostly just alluded to. I suppose that’s a positive..... I still am not sure why that was necessary though. For as much as the book made me cringe and squirm, though, there was never a redeeming element- not even at the end. And to be honest, the conclusion was a bit of a let down.

This book was painful to read, yet I was unable to put it down until i read the last page. Every page brought new horrors and a sadness in my heart yet all I wanted was to get deeper into this world. The daughters captured my heart and soul and all I wanted was for them to survive and make it out of where they are.

Oh, my goodness! Gather the Daughters is a haunting story of a dystopian society. This book reminded me of The Giver meets the Handmaids Tale. We meet several daughters, Amanda, Caitlin, Janey. They live in a futuristic community in which mothers "weep for daughters" and celebrate sons from birth. The women hide horrible truths about life from their daughters, and sons seem oblivious to life around them. When daughters come to fruition they spend a summer with other daughters, meeting the sons and their future husbands. Don't get the idea that this is fairytale-like or dreamy, it is horrifying and torturous. Daughters who do not go along willingly are drugged. As we follow the three daughters in the story, strange things start occurring. Women and daughters start disappearing. Why? 

I found this book incredibly difficult to read and emotionally gut-wrenching. It's important to consider and think about these topics but this book did not make those ideas easy to digest.