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All the Bad Apples
by
The day after the funeral all our mourning clothes hung out on the line like sleeping bats. 'This will be really embarrassing,' I kept saying to my family, 'when she shows up at the door in a week or two.'
When Deena's wild and mysterious sister Mandy disappears - presumed dead - her family are heartbroken. But Mandy has always been troubled. It's just another bad thing to ...more
When Deena's wild and mysterious sister Mandy disappears - presumed dead - her family are heartbroken. But Mandy has always been troubled. It's just another bad thing to ...more
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Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
August 27th 2019
by Kathy Dawson Books
(first published August 1st 2019)
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Sep 01, 2019
Nilufer Ozmekik
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
i-m-intrigued
A BOOK about FAMILY CURSE,WITCHES, BANSHEES, GHOSTS washed with magical realism, mysterious historical journey to the family ancestors’ stories repeated itself like living in the same Groundhog Day, taken place IN IRELAND and lots of tasty, juicy apples give you cravings! What am I waiting for? GIVING WITHOUT THINKING MY 5 BILLION STARS!
My vocabulary was limited to express how I loved this book so much because this is more than a mythological, mystical, mysterious, gothic, folkloric adventure. ...more
My vocabulary was limited to express how I loved this book so much because this is more than a mythological, mystical, mysterious, gothic, folkloric adventure. ...more
**UNDERRATED BOOK ALERT**
All the Bad Apples is a hard-hitting and enchanting YA feminist tale. I was so enthralled by this story, I absolutely could not put it down once I started.
Deena begins to unravel the mysteries of her family tree whilst on a search to find her missing sister, Mandy, who others assume is dead.
Fowley-Doyle includes a lot of Deena's family lore in this story and I was totally into it. I wanted to know everything there was to know about the Rys family.
The author continues t ...more
All the Bad Apples is a hard-hitting and enchanting YA feminist tale. I was so enthralled by this story, I absolutely could not put it down once I started.
Deena begins to unravel the mysteries of her family tree whilst on a search to find her missing sister, Mandy, who others assume is dead.
Fowley-Doyle includes a lot of Deena's family lore in this story and I was totally into it. I wanted to know everything there was to know about the Rys family.
The author continues t ...more
Unputdownable. This is full of inherited rage, inherited silence, inherited stigma, and so much more. It’s about a past that is only escapable if someone finally dares to speak it out loud. It’s a horrifying masterpiece that demands to look centuries of trauma in the face and scream about it or nothing will ever change. Essential, essential reading.
TW: Homophobia, internalized homophobia, historical homophobia, mentions and discussion of rape and incest
TW: Homophobia, internalized homophobia, historical homophobia, mentions and discussion of rape and incest
I'm sitting here just trying to...gather myself after this incredibly hard-hitting powerful story. This was deeply, deeply moving. Like I was nearly choking on rage tears at the end there (inwardly) because it's so deeply about feminism, about the history of abuse and cruelty and discrimination that queer people and women have suffered forever. I'm serious...I was so gobsmacked. This book WENT for it. And holy shit, it nailed the topic.
// this is no light read
It's beautifully written and framed ...more
// this is no light read
It's beautifully written and framed ...more
Well, that was quite a painful read and it definitely made me hug my son a bit tighter. :*( A really important story and look at recent history.
Idk anything about this book. BUT i'm willing to read this book just because of the cover,,,, hOW CAN A PERSON BE THIS BEAUTIFUL I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND
...more
"There are tears in the landscape. Pinpricks in the map. Pain stays on in a place like this."
In true Moira Fowley-Doyle fashion this is a stunningly written novel about women, sisters, family, friends, and about the length we go to for love. It's queer, it's diverse, it's witchy, and there are mother f'ing harpies. It's spooky, it's feminist and it's about the strength and resilience of women in the face of their greatest historical threat--men.
"The curse isn't on our family, it's on every woma ...more
In true Moira Fowley-Doyle fashion this is a stunningly written novel about women, sisters, family, friends, and about the length we go to for love. It's queer, it's diverse, it's witchy, and there are mother f'ing harpies. It's spooky, it's feminist and it's about the strength and resilience of women in the face of their greatest historical threat--men.
"The curse isn't on our family, it's on every woma ...more
Jun 27, 2019
h o l l i s
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
hello-diversity,
contemporary,
crime-mystery,
coverly-love,
lgbtqia,
hist-fiction,
ya,
2019-reads,
arc,
a-smattering-of-lols
This is what a curse does : It takes a truth and twists it. It punishes those who don't conform.
ALL THE BAD APPLES is, to quote the author, a story that "was, in part, fueled by rage." I don’t want to veer away from the specific history she's shed light on but for anyone who has looked around, confused and shocked and angry, about some of the abortion bills trying to be passed in the US? You’ll want to read this book. Because Ireland had been living that life up until 2018.
That's the problem wit ...more
ALL THE BAD APPLES is, to quote the author, a story that "was, in part, fueled by rage." I don’t want to veer away from the specific history she's shed light on but for anyone who has looked around, confused and shocked and angry, about some of the abortion bills trying to be passed in the US? You’ll want to read this book. Because Ireland had been living that life up until 2018.
That's the problem wit ...more
This is my favorite book of the year, it has everything I love in a story.
Queer characters
A family curse
Secret family history
Found family
Road trip
Going after a person who has gone missing/is presumed dead
Feminist rage against patriarchy
I cannot think of a book that I will love as much as this one.
Also as a side note, Finn is the only man in this book who deserves rights.
Queer characters
A family curse
Secret family history
Found family
Road trip
Going after a person who has gone missing/is presumed dead
Feminist rage against patriarchy
I cannot think of a book that I will love as much as this one.
Also as a side note, Finn is the only man in this book who deserves rights.
ARC provided via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review
I fucking love this book. It's easily one of my favourite reads of 2019. All the Bad Apples follows Deena, who undertakes a quest to find her missing older sister when she vanishes on her seventeenth birthday - apparently in response to the Rys family curse. The curse falls on the 'bad apples' of the family. Those who cannot be 'nice, normal girls'. The ones who have sex outside of marriage or who desire other women or act in any other w ...more
I fucking love this book. It's easily one of my favourite reads of 2019. All the Bad Apples follows Deena, who undertakes a quest to find her missing older sister when she vanishes on her seventeenth birthday - apparently in response to the Rys family curse. The curse falls on the 'bad apples' of the family. Those who cannot be 'nice, normal girls'. The ones who have sex outside of marriage or who desire other women or act in any other w ...more
Mar 26, 2019
Acqua
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
love-cover,
qf,
arc,
sibling-device,
q,
unpredictable,
witches,
mystery-th-su,
w-ones,
contemp-sff-mr
All the Bad Apples has everything you should expect from a Moïra Fowley-Doyle novel: beautiful atmosphere, blurred lines between the magical and the ordinary, and queer characters. At the same time, it's so much darker and angrier than usual.
This felt like the bookish equivalent of a scream.
You might think this is a story about a lesbian who has a very traditional catholic father and who is grappling with the consequences of her older sister's disappearance and what might be a family curse, disc ...more
This felt like the bookish equivalent of a scream.
You might think this is a story about a lesbian who has a very traditional catholic father and who is grappling with the consequences of her older sister's disappearance and what might be a family curse, disc ...more
At first I thought this book was a YA fantasy about a family of women that were under a curse. That if it was deemed by the rest of the family that they were bad apples that they would suffer this doomed fate. I didn't quite get what the specific details of that fate would be beyond visitation by banshees, broken bone combs, bodily scratches and the ghost of a bull. Was she going to die? Be tortured mercilessly? Be trapped in purgatory? I just wasn't sure. But as the book opens up with a teenage
...more
Would have been interesting if it was a real ghost story. It is not about an actual supernatural curse, the plot is just plain basic and stupid and the same as the other books Doyke has written. She needs some more imagination and to stop writing this god awful predictable plots.
Do Not Waste your time with this!
Do Not Waste your time with this!
ALL THE BAD APPLES is intense and sad and, at times, challenging. It is not an easy read. It sheds light on Ireland’s dark past and the atrocious treatment of women under Ireland’s religious ideology, even up to the modern day. It also encourages women today to stand up and speak out, breaking free of stigma and creating a better future. It, at once, is both a book full of magical fabulism and historical horrors.
Very much worth the read, though.
tw: rape (off-page), women being treated really sh ...more
Very much worth the read, though.
tw: rape (off-page), women being treated really sh ...more
All the Bad Apples is an underrated masterpiece. The more time that passes since I read it, the more I begin to realize how genius it really is. I think it might end up in my top books of the year.
If you've read my reviews in the past, you probably noticed that I love me a subversive feminist book with magical realism incorporating real historical events to make a statement about generational trauma, the grieving process, the importance of storytelling, and the nature of oppression. Oddly speci ...more
If you've read my reviews in the past, you probably noticed that I love me a subversive feminist book with magical realism incorporating real historical events to make a statement about generational trauma, the grieving process, the importance of storytelling, and the nature of oppression. Oddly speci ...more
(3.5)
disappointed @ how this book used the d-slur (and not in a good way) to refer to the mc before using the word lesbian and she never referred to herself as a lesbian like........please can u just have ur LESBIAN mc use the word lesbian once i beg
Rep: lesbian mc, biracial (black) bisexual side character, wlw li
disappointed @ how this book used the d-slur (and not in a good way) to refer to the mc before using the word lesbian and she never referred to herself as a lesbian like........please can u just have ur LESBIAN mc use the word lesbian once i beg
Rep: lesbian mc, biracial (black) bisexual side character, wlw li
4.5/5 ahhhh wow
This blew me away and the authors note and acknowledgements hit me more than the novel did.
This book tells the story of the Rhys family who are reeling from the passing of their sister and whom Deena is reeling from her crap school and peers.
Please be warned that there is the mention of sexual assault in this book.
I don’t want to detail the plot as after going in myself knowing nothing and having no expectations, I loved this. It was dark, harrowing and incredibly moving all in one.
This is an im ...more
This book tells the story of the Rhys family who are reeling from the passing of their sister and whom Deena is reeling from her crap school and peers.
Please be warned that there is the mention of sexual assault in this book.
I don’t want to detail the plot as after going in myself knowing nothing and having no expectations, I loved this. It was dark, harrowing and incredibly moving all in one.
This is an im ...more
Nov 27, 2019
여리고
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
2019-releases,
sisterhood,
owned,
mystery,
contemporary,
crime,
misguided-characters,
family-issues,
self-discovery,
ya
3.75 stars.
"There are things that hold you, and there are things that you hold."
This book has vague similarities with The Disappearances but as much as I loved the aforementioned title, All The Bad Apples did not make it through to my 'favorites' shelf.
There were strong issues depicted in the book that would be controversial to some. I, for one, had a slight dissent from certain outlooks the author wanted to convey in the story. But aside from those topics, this book is well-written as it i ...more
"There are things that hold you, and there are things that you hold."
This book has vague similarities with The Disappearances but as much as I loved the aforementioned title, All The Bad Apples did not make it through to my 'favorites' shelf.
There were strong issues depicted in the book that would be controversial to some. I, for one, had a slight dissent from certain outlooks the author wanted to convey in the story. But aside from those topics, this book is well-written as it i ...more
Oct 13, 2019
Karima chermiti
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
2019,
favorites,
supernatural,
coming-of-age,
young-adult,
suspense,
feminism,
gorgeous-covers,
mystery
Trigger warning : (view spoiler)
There are things in life you hold, and there are things that hold you.
This book flew under my radar for so long I don’t know how it was even possible; full of all the things I love and appreciate in books, All the Bad Apples is an all time favorite of mine and it will always be. Like a scream in the dead silence of night, it woken something in me and made breath like it was ...more
Rating: 4.5 Stars
The Rhys women were cursed, and upon their 17th birthday, all the bad apples fell from the family tree.
However, Mandy was determine to break the curse, and while tracing the family's history, she disappeared. They had a funeral, but Deena didn't believe her si ...more
The Rhys women were cursed, and upon their 17th birthday, all the bad apples fell from the family tree.
“You’d know them a mile away. The ones who don’t look like the others, don’t act like the others. The ones who don’t conform, don’t follow the rules . . .The ones who dress differently, love differently, think differently.”
However, Mandy was determine to break the curse, and while tracing the family's history, she disappeared. They had a funeral, but Deena didn't believe her si ...more
5 Stars for All The Bad Apples (audiobook) by Moïra Fowler-Doyle narrated by Marisa Calin and Elizabeth Sastre. I thought I was in for an interesting tale set in a beautiful place. The premise sounded great. I had no idea that this was a fictional tale set around such an important topic. The unsettling part of the book is that many of the subjects are historically true. The narration was superb. I could listen to the narrators read the phone book. Maybe the Dublin phone book. 🍀
I have no words.
Aug 28, 2019
Samm | Sassenach the Book Wizard
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
f-f-romance,
lgbtq-rep,
releases-2019,
own,
most-anticipated-2019,
lesbian-rep,
own-voices,
bisexual-rep
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Gorgeously written and emotionally harrowing. This book went places I wasn’t expecting it to. Everyone thinks that Deena’s older sister Mandy is dead, everyone except Deena herself. Following a trail of clues that Mandy has left behind, Deena traces the history of her family and the curse that runs through generations.
I absolutely loved Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s writing. Everything was so atmospheric, all the settings around Ireland were described in such vivid ways. The story is about all the women ...more
I absolutely loved Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s writing. Everything was so atmospheric, all the settings around Ireland were described in such vivid ways. The story is about all the women ...more
This book fucked me up in the best way. Probably a fave of 2019.
I should have probably wrote my review just after reading this, because I was drowning in excitement and feelings. I mostly picked this up because it was half-price, had a beautiful cover, was queer and I had heard about some good reviews on Booktube.
And it was SO GOOD. I don't know what I expected but it was not this. Amazing teenage characters, most of them queer, on a quest of the past of the MC's family. It had a sort of dual ...more
I should have probably wrote my review just after reading this, because I was drowning in excitement and feelings. I mostly picked this up because it was half-price, had a beautiful cover, was queer and I had heard about some good reviews on Booktube.
And it was SO GOOD. I don't know what I expected but it was not this. Amazing teenage characters, most of them queer, on a quest of the past of the MC's family. It had a sort of dual ...more
3.5 ⭐️
TW: homophobia, historical homophobia, rape, incest, abortion, child deaths, mothers being separated from their children, mentions of suicide, teenage pregnancy.
This book talks about a queer girl named Deena and her path to accepting herself, learning her family history and the ugly truths her country and church tried to hide all while trying to break the family curse.
So this book... finishing this book left me crying for all the women who suffered this kind of treatment not only in Irel ...more
TW: homophobia, historical homophobia, rape, incest, abortion, child deaths, mothers being separated from their children, mentions of suicide, teenage pregnancy.
This book talks about a queer girl named Deena and her path to accepting herself, learning her family history and the ugly truths her country and church tried to hide all while trying to break the family curse.
So this book... finishing this book left me crying for all the women who suffered this kind of treatment not only in Irel ...more
9/10.
The pros: All The Bad Apples is not just a well-written, queer magical realism story - though that alone is a remarkable thing that always excites me to find. This book is a bold, powerful feminist story about women in Ireland, about the different reasons people are cast out of society, and about how to fight the system that wants to keep us cursed and branded as bad apples. It's about a family curse, about sisters and friends and forbidden lovers and suffering mothers and lost children. Fo ...more
The pros: All The Bad Apples is not just a well-written, queer magical realism story - though that alone is a remarkable thing that always excites me to find. This book is a bold, powerful feminist story about women in Ireland, about the different reasons people are cast out of society, and about how to fight the system that wants to keep us cursed and branded as bad apples. It's about a family curse, about sisters and friends and forbidden lovers and suffering mothers and lost children. Fo ...more
So... This was weird. Probably like a 2.5 rounded up. I am really trying to like magical realism, but again and again I am finding it's just not for me. However, I did enjoy the realistic parts of this book dealing with themes of sexuality, abortion, teenage pregnancy, parental (verbal) abuse, and abandonment. That being said, I feel like this is one of those books that tries to say something important, but the message gets lost in the story because there's just too much going on.
A ghost story ...more
A ghost story ...more
Feb 04, 2020
andrea caro
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
mystery,
finished-in-24-hours,
lgbtqia,
young-adult,
audiobook,
magical-realism,
feminism,
read-in-2020
I read this on audiobook and it was nearly enough to make me want to stop. The narrator is heavily accented - this wasn't the issue, though. It was that she was so freaking dramatic and sounded like she was crying the whole time.
It was a really hard story and I hated almost everything that happened in it. But an important one. Not a book I can read more than once, but solid. ...more
It was a really hard story and I hated almost everything that happened in it. But an important one. Not a book I can read more than once, but solid. ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterstones Young...: September Pick - All the bad Apples | 4 | 5 | Sep 22, 2019 05:48AM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: This book/author are the same | 2 | 20 | Jun 18, 2019 02:21PM |
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