So I’m just going to shout this bold statement from the top of my lungs at the highest range: Tiffany McDaniel is it for me. She is my one and only. My very favorite author of all my reading time. Almost two and half years ago, I wrote Tiffany McDaniel (a dorky fan letter…so what?) asking when I could expect her sophomore novel as her first novel left a lasting impression. This wonderful woman wrote me a very personable email the very next day answering all my questions and offering to sign a copy of her book. Point of that was to explain just how long I’ve been waiting and waiting like a kid on Christmas for her next publication. The funny thing is sophomore novels can be scary especially when the stakes are so high (TSTME = my favorite book of ALL time). But Tiffany McDaniel has done it again! And if it is even humanly possible, it may be even better. But I would never admit that to The Summer that Melt Everything or myself because it feels kind of treacherous. But Betty is unsettling, triggering and honestly an incredibly haunting story especially with the truths sprinkled throughout. But between you and me, I can’t tell you enough how good a story hurts when Tiffany McDaniel writes it.

This novel is one hundred percent character driven. We get to follow around the Carpenter family. A mixed-race family during the early 60’s. Alka (the mother) is a white woman who grew up with what appeared to be a respectful family. Landon Carpenter is a proud Cherokee man. Together they grow into a large impoverished family that settles in Breathed, Ohio. Together this family faces many injustices. Many more than one family should have to. I won’t give away too much but there are many triggers in this novel. All of the major triggers really. But it is an experience that I think is worth the tough read. I’ve never left one of her novels without lasting impressions that encourage me to improve my life and compassion for others. The content is incredibly dark but she writes the most beautiful silver linings throughout. I will tell any perspective readers, you might have to fight to find the positive but it is intricately written throughout waiting to leave an imprint on your soul forever.

There are many wonderful and terrible people written into this novel. Readers are going to feel complete devotion and love for some. Some characters are going to be tough to love but they need it the most. While others don’t deserve the words on the page. But their evil deserved to be recorded thousands of time for the rest of eternity. Haunting them, like they’ve haunted others. That being said, I’d like to discuss the matriarchs of the family.

Alka

“Next thing you knew, she’d start to say she loved him out loud. What a weakness that would have been to a woman like her, who displayed her thorns as wisely as any rose can.”


Alka (the mom) is going to be a tough character to understand. But she is never unlikable even during some horrendous outbursts. She is a character that many woman are going to know intimately even if they wish they didn’t. I found her uncomfortably familiar. We all know an Alka. Or maybe you are an Alka. While Alka is a damaged woman, I hope you can forgive her actions and find compassion. She doesn’t want it. But she deserves it. Please try and remember that while reading this.

Landon

They’re fillers. That’s what I am. A filler. A step others climb on to get to the top. A paint drop on the portrait of a greater man.”


Landon Carpenter is a damn good man. Easily he is the character that stole the show for me. Landon was a poor man, but had an abundance of love, empathy, and understanding. His whole life he was beat (literally) for the color of his skin. But he remained a proud and true Cherokee man. He re-enforced the beauty of his bloodline into Betty. Told her how beautiful it was to share these genes. There is no shame in the tone of her skin. Instead he taught her that her skin tells a beautiful story of their culture and history. Staying true to his roots, Landon frequently communicates life lessons to his children through story telling. These stories were so very beautiful. They will stick with the reader. If not, something is wrong with said read and they should seek professional help soon. I really revered this style and approach. Landon put so much love into these stories. Even I could feel it. In fact, I always felt so warm and safe when reading about Landon or one of his stories. Tiffany McDaniel portrayed him so stunningly. This woman had me sitting outside first thing in the morning, sobbing like a lunatic in my backyard. I want to share the exact lines that had me weeping:

Nova was too young to make anything more than sounds, but Dad would still ask, “What’s he saying?” I didn’t know what Nova was saying, nor what he was thinking, but I knew what I had thought at that age when Dad would make us water hose rainbows in the backyard. “He thinks you’re God.”


Those three sentences kind of shattered my glass heart with the little bird inside. I can’t imagine a father asking what the little baby who can’t even talk is saying. That simple thing showed the readers Landon’s true heart. And it is pure gold as is his soul. I don’t know why that hurt me so much. But it also brings me such happiness. This father wasn’t fictional, he was real man with true and honest love in his heart. Betty Carpenter really got to grow up with this amazing gentleman whose love for his children never faltered. And the best part, it was his choice. Life beat the fuck out of him figuratively and literally. He had every reason to be a piece of dirt. He still chose to see better, be better and do better for wife, family and himself. He is the positive and silver lining. This man certainly was no filler. He is one of the greater men. Maybe even one of the greatest.

Trigger Warning

“It’s like bein’ in a storm. The cold wind whippin’ you about. The rain beatin’ down hard. I try to find the child within me as if she still lives. I try to find her and pull her from the storm and ask her, “what will you be when you grow up?” That way, I can pretend her future is not me.”


The sexual abuse and long term effect McDaniel’s touch on is scarily accurate. Some of the things that happen in this story are going to hit home. A baseball bat to the unclenched gut type of hit. Some graphic scenes are going to be harder to read than your best friends eulogy. Why? Because she speaks so much of the truth about rape, abuse, and molestation. The truth is dark. It can cut, wound, scar, and tear. McDaniel very forwardly addresses what happens to sexual abuse victims in the long term. Something readers experience less in novel. An ugly and disturbing peak behind what happens long after a predator has attacked. McDaniel’s tells the story of women and girls alike who were held down by the hand of a man. Maybe even a man they knew, loved, trusted. She describes the life long battle that a woman will go through long after his fingermarks have left her skin. The bruises have long since faded but not the ones left on her soul. A lifetime of damage…if they choose to make it that long. All of that destruction from only a few minutes of hell. A couple hundred second changed these women irrevocably. The worst part is they had to continue living when the fact was they died that day and many times after. They were killed. Murdered. A body void of life for someone else’s sick bliss. The women these Carpenter girls could have been are gone. Forever. They never got the chance that was rightfully theirs, hers, yours, or mine. McDaniel’s tells a frightening and completely unfair truth about how a few minutes can change the course of a woman’s life. Rest assure, she does in such a beautiful and damning way.

McDaniel’s can paint some of the most vivid and graphic pictures from words. And I think it was pretty cool to learn where her inherited gift came from. This gift was passed down generationally going as far back as her grandfather. And likely much further being from Cherokee men and women. We literally watched firsthand how each generation’s voice grew louder and stronger. Additionally, I love that Landon’s stories lived on through Betty to Tiffany McDaniel. And now his stories are going to live on forever in my heart and anyone else who reads Betty. It is honestly so poetic.

I know that I won’t shut the fuck up about this novel or Tiffany McDaniel but I have one more thing to gush about. I absolutely am obsessed with the way she incorporated her debut novel into Betty. Tiffany McDaniel no pressure, but I want the Elohim story. One hundred percent, I need more from Breathed, Ohio.

Tiffany McDaniel is the type of author that truly speaks to the readers soul. She can write such devastating sentences so beautiful you can’t differentiate whether the tears are from her exquisite use of words or their heartbreaking meaning. Not only is she a lyrical prose genius, she can tell such a captivating story. She tells a story in such a way that I can’t stop thinking about the words, events, and characters that have now left a mark on my life. Literally, days and weeks and years later, I will think about her debut and now Betty.

Thank you so so much NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Especially Knopf for publishing this wonderful woman’s work.

Tiffany McDaniel put together quite a moving and deeply important novel about family, racism, childhood abuse, devastation, and more.  I cringed more than once in this due to a certain act that was happening, how someone was being treated, or what someone was thinking.  It broke my heart over and over  -but McDaniel's writing style is so beautiful, descriptive, and evocative that you cannot stop reading.  Betty witnesses so much pain, destruction, and sadness, but her love for father and sisters (most of the time) is a beautiful reflection of her innocence and kindness.  4 stars - this book will be staying with me for quite some time!

The Summer That Melted Everything was a hard act to follow, but Tiffany McDaniel has exceeded all expectations! It is a masterpiece. Juxtaposing the magical, mythical storytelling of the Cherokee people with themes of racism, poverty, abuse and loss in the Appalachians, Betty is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and heckles-raising emotional rollercoaster. 

I loved the vivid characters, sensory descriptions and lyrical prose. 

I love Betty.

Oh, my. What a book. This book is filled with the sadness and blood of a family deeply troubled by the bad things men did to the girls. However it’s a beautiful story of an amazing, loving father, husband and neighbor. At times there was so much darkness that I had to put it down, but it called me back and I’m sure glad I answered the call. 
Thanks to Netgalley for sharing this book.

McDaniel is one of those authors whose writing stops you in your tracks. Lyrical, hypnotic, powerful, her words will leave imprints on your skin, and the story of Betty is one that will follow me forever. McDaniel is not afraid to hold up a mirror to our deepest selves. She describes the effects of abuse and racism so delicately yet so fearlessly, weaving an intricate, coming-of-age tale that everyone, of all ages and genders and backgrounds, should read and absorb. I simultaneously wanted to devour and savour this incredible story, staying up late to finish it, then feeling bereft when it was over. I would love to read more of Betty's story, though at the same time, this novel ended at precisely the right point. Utterly gripping and entirely unforgettable.

This story will grip at your heart-strings, make you gasp in horror, and will prevent you from putting the book down (unless it becomes too much). Right from the very beginning, McDaniel hits the ground running with the background and history of Betty, the protagonist. She recounts her mother's and father's story, she reveals her passion for writing, and she shares some of the acts of disturbing violence that she has witnessed. It's not, however, all bad as she recalls the moments with and stories from her father. This book will force readers to truly gain a deeper perspective for life in America, especially for Native Americans during that time. It is a lengthy book, but it can be read quickly.

2.5 for the writing

I struggled with this novel. It is beautifully written nd the first part of it is captivating, but when pets start being killed and plot ramps up to include incest, I was done.

The characters are vivid, especially Landon Carpenter, Betty's father. My concern that something awful was going to happen to him or that we were going to find out something vile about him was one of the reasons I put the book down.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the nod to read and review "Betty."

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader