What a title. What a cover. What a debut, I think.

Sisters Althea, Viola and Lillian are not prepared for the trial that will usurp their lives. Althea is the eldest sister. She is now the matriarch of the family, holding everyone together. So it comes as a shock when she and her husband are arrested for a sham charity. Once the most respected in the small community, now the disgrace of the town.

Not even her sisters are sure what really happened, making it hard for them to defend the accusations. With Althea in jail, sisters Viola and Lillian step up. They move into the house to care for their two teenage nieces. What follows is a well-paced novel that is impressive for a debut.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is the type of novel that consumes your thoughts while reading it. I wondered how I would react in a similar situation. I evaluated my role as an Auntie. I related to the mother-daughter relationship in some way. And I certainly agree that daughters carry the hopes of their mothers.

But let a couple weeks pass after finishing the book and I tend to forget the details. I remembered the central themes only as the characters were forgettable. And that is okay. The message stayed with me. The author did her job: write a book that readers can relate to and will recommend to others.

Happy Pub Day, Anissa Gray. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is available today.

LiteraryMarie

Wow! This book was thick with dysfunction, grief, guilt, and love!

When I finish this book I did not know what to think, I was emotionally exhausted and I needed to let this book simmer for a while. I needed to process the pain and the emotion I had just experienced. Anissa Gray has written one heck of a dark evocative and emotional debut! This book was so real, so raw, so uncomfortable, and yet so exquisite! It was a book I needed to take a few steps away from to truly appreciate, I needed to separate myself from these characters to find the true beauty in these words.

The Butler family truly brings dysfunction to new heights. Every time I turned a page in this book I was drawn further into this family’s misfortune and pain. Not going to lie the darkness was a bit overwhelming for me at times and I think that is why I needed this book to sit with me before I could truly appreciate it. This is the story of sisters Althea, viola, and Lillian. Althea who became the matriarch of the family after the sister’s mother passed is in trouble. Althea and her husband Proctor have been found guilty of embezzlement a crime that the sisters and the entire community are shocked by. Viola and Lillian rally to take care of Altheas twin girls Kim and baby Vi. This was one complicated story with multiple layers and many secrets. A Family broken trying to come together and pick up the pieces.

All these characters were flawed and not necessarily likable, but they sure were real. Althea was very difficult for me to understand as a mother, but I did like how as the story went along we got to see a softer side of her (sort of). Lillian and viola were really so full of love and yet so broken. During the course of the story they really found their strength and voice, it gave me hope for a better healthier future for these ladies. Their brother Joe on the other hand...

A powerful debut packed with emotion sorrow and hope! Absolutely recommend!

🎵🎵🎵 Song Running Through My Head

Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face
You told me how proud you were, but I walked away
If only I knew what I know today
Ooh, ooh
I would hold you in my arms
I would take the pain away
Thank you for all you've done
Forgive all your mistakes
There's nothing I wouldn't do
To hear your voice again
Sometimes I wanna call you
But I know you won't be there
Ohh I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself by hurting you
Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit
Sometimes I just wanna hide 'cause it's you I miss
And it's so hard to say goodbye
When it comes to this
Would you tell me I was wrong?
Would you help understand?
Are you looking down upon me?
Are you proud of who I am?
There's nothing I wouldn't do
To have…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=___l8Y21yNM

*** many thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing for my copy of this book. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is a story of love, family, and relationships. This story unfolds from the perspective of three sisters. Lillian and Viola must come together to care for Althea’s daughters when she, along with her husband, is sent to jail. The family is ripped apart and must try and put together the pieces. The story itself is moving and eye-opening. I have been going back and forth with this book and how I feel about it. The story is completely character driven rather than plot driven so, it is important to be invested in the characters. While the stories of the three women telling the stories are totally different, I found myself having to go back to the beginning of the chapter to remember whose perspective I was reading. I felt that the voices of the three sisters were not completely distinct. This issue had the unfortunate side effect of interrupting the storyline. It took significant effort to become invested in the story and the characters.
3 plus stars

Anissa Gray’s debut novel doesn’t politely tiptoe into the literary world; it kicks the door in. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is about a dysfunctional family, and about the way society has failed some of its most vulnerable members. Thanks go to Net Galley and Random House for the review copy. This book is available to the public today.

Althea and her husband Proctor are the heads of the family, owners of a local restaurant, and the organizers of a local charity to help those impacted by the Great Flood. The community has rallied round them. New River Junction is down on its luck, what with the layoffs at the mill and the decline in tourism; but the people of Southern Michigan are the salt of the Earth, and so when the Cochrans ask them to pitch in for the cause, they do. It’s a warm feeling.

But when an informer calls the police and the Cochrans are arrested for fraud and embezzlement, hell hath no greater fury than the citizens that have been bilked. It’s a small town. There aren’t a lot of places to hide.

Reader, I once had a glass dish that broke into a zillion pieces with no apparent provocation; perhaps it was a vibration, or a change in temperature in the room. One minute I was reading my newspaper, and the next, there was the sound of breaking glass. It was so sudden. And in the same way, Althea’s family is shattered; Althea is arrested, and her sisters and daughters are undone. The private burdens that each carries, traumas left unspoken and injuries long buried now grow and loom, and with each angry phone call, each hate letter, each act of vandalism committed against them—the family members presumed to have benefited from Althea’s ill-gotten gains—their mental health issues fatten and swell. Lillian’s anxiety issues ramp up and Viola’s eating disorder spirals out of control. And the twins, adolescents that have to face the taunts of their classmates and the side-eye glances of the faculty, have no healthy adult in their lives to help them. Kim, Lillian notes, has become “full-on feral now.”

The story is almost entirely character based, and even so, Gray does a lot here. It’s a complex story and at times I wonder if she’s tried to do too much. But she brings it all together at the conclusion in a way that is consistent and believable.

At one point I reflect that no family has this many mental health disorders among a handful of people, but the minute I consider it, I know that’s not true. I feel as if I might have taught some version of the Cochran girls. Families like this tumble down together in just this way, like a pile of heavy dishes stacked on a flimsy cardboard box. When there is no strong foundation, the whole structure collapses.

For that reason, this story may most appeal to those that work in the helping professions: teachers, counselors and other mental health professionals, nurses and social workers will see this family and recognize it. And feminists will appreciate the resolution, which does not devolve around some handsome knight rushing in to save the day.

This story is one of a kind. If you need to know what the buzz is about, you had better get a copy for yourself before they’re gone.

this beautifuuly writing story of a family in crisis, told in multiple voices, I was totally hooked and read it in one sitting.

I just don’t know what to say about this book. I couldn’t stop reading, I couldn’t put it down, but when I finished I sat back and thought hmm…what do I think? I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it, I just don’t know.

I struggled with keeping some of the characters straight. I figured out the Butler kids right away but the spouses and secondary characters kept getting confused in my brain. I had to go back a couple of times to see who was telling the story and then it all came together. None of the characters were easy to like and each had their own nightmares to struggle with. It was good to see that they kept in touch and when the going got tough they came together to help each other out.

The storyline was one problem after another. There was an arrest, abuse, runaways, eating disorders, a marriage dissolving, and so many other problems that is seemed to all just keep piling on. Maybe that is the problem for me, it was such a dark story and I kept looking for the light that never seemed to come. The story was sad from the very beginning and it never got happy.

I was torn with this one, in that I wanted to take my time with it, savor this story and these characters, but it was just so dang good that I ended up reading it in pretty much one sitting. This is a story about family dynamics and how our choices can affect those that are closest to us so deeply. In addition to family, Gray also covers the topics of addiction, abuse, bulimia, and sibling rivalry to name a few, and she handles them in an honest, heartfelt way.

Althea is the oldest of four siblings, and raised her brother and sisters when they were younger. She is seen as the matriarch of the family but that doesn't mean they all get along in the present day. Althea and her husband, Proctor, have two teenage daughters and are well respected in the community, that is, until they are arrested and their world is flipped upside down. Althea's siblings come together to be there for the daughters, who are struggling in their own way, but as I noted above, the siblings are still not all getting along, and the past is slowly starting to resurface for each of them as Althea and Proctor await their fate in jail.

The writing was beautiful, Gray captured the emotions of every character so well, you really felt for each of them, including Althea's inmates. I was engrossed in this story right from the beginning, and am still thinking about it long after I finished the book. This was an easy 5 stars, and you should not think twice about getting this when it comes out this week. Trigger warnings for the topics I noted above, including domestic abuse and child abuse.

Thank you to NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions above are my own. Pub date is 2/19/2019.

Secrets and shame lie at the heart of this story. A mother dies young, the father can't cope and the oldest sibling becomes the parent to the rest. The father, a traveling minister, is never home and doesn't know what's happening while he's gone. What's happening is things fall apart Children don't know how to parent children. It may take awhile, but it all comes out in the end. A touching, well told story that will have you reading until late at night. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. #TheCareAndFeedingOfRavenouslyHungryGirls #NetGalley

The cover of this book might be stunningly eye-catching and vivid, and the story within lives up to the promise of the cover. The family at the heart of this story has dealt with their share of drama and issues throughout the years, but as the story opens they are dealing with their most public struggle to date- the sentencing of oldest sister Althea and her husband Procter for crimes that have caused deep hurt within their community. The story is told from three perspectives (plus letters from Procter to Althea)- oldest sister Althea, who married young to get away from the challenges and responsibilities thrown on her from her father; middle sister Viola, who stays away from home and who is reacting to the current situation by slipping back into dangerous habits, and youngest sister Lillian who has hid some of the trauma she experienced from her sisters, and is now responsible for Althea's daughters. Althea's fraught relationship with her daughter, Kim, is one of the most heartbreaking parts to read- it's had major consequences, and it feels as though it's difficult for Althea to see what she's done wrong in this relationship, or how to fix it. Every member of a family experiences their childhood differently, and we remember things differently, and sometimes just where you fall in the birth order, and what your family is experiencing at different times means very different things for each member, and this is so clear in this story- just being born into the same family doesn't guarantee the same experience, or even that you can comprehend each other's stories.

Ugh I hate writing super negative reviews but I just really didn’t like this one you guys. I’m not going to spend a bunch of time bashing this just because it didn’t work for me, seriously I just scrolled the goodreads reviews for this and a lot of my friends like this, so clearly I’m in the minority on this one.

Let me point out that my reasons for not enjoying this one have absolutely nothing to do with the authors writing, in fact she’s a great writer. What didn’t work for me was the story itself and my lack of a connection with any of the characters. This follows one family after one sister gets sent to prison and the two other sisters are left to pick up the pieces of her life, mainly in the care of her teenaged twin daughters. The problem for me was that I just didn’t care about these people, I wasn’t invested in their lives at all so then I was just bored. I pushed through and really probably should’ve just gave up, because it was a pretty miserable experience for me in the end. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did, it just ended. Overall, I’m just not the right reader for this one unfortunately.

I'd been hearing great things about Anissa Gray's début novel The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls for almost a year before I finally picked it up. It was one of those books I really wanted to read, but at the same time, I hated the thought of not having it to look forward to. My brain does strange things sometimes, I know. Anyway, I finally gave in and started reading, and I'm very glad I did.

The women of the Butler family are no strangers to bad luck. Each of them has gone through more than their fair share of trials and tribulations, but most people would say they've all managed to come out on top. But when oldest sister Althea and her husband Proctor are arrested one day for embezzling money they had promised to donate to charity, Lillian and Viola must come together to care for their sister’s teenaged daughters while Althea and Proctor are in jail. No one is particularly happy with this arrangement, but both Viola and Lillian know it's their duty to care for their struggling nieces in their time of trouble.

Althea was always the force that held the family together. When their mother walked out on the girls and their father, Althea stepped up and helped raise the younger children, even though she was not much more than a child herself. Her strong will and even stronger opinions caused her sisters to respect and fear her in equal measure. No one ever expected her to be hauled off to jail in disgrace, and to make matters worse, she's now refusing to see or speak to her own daughters, and she has very little to say about the crimes she and Proctor have been accused of.

Lillian is the youngest of the Butler sisters, and the one most obviously scarred by their mother's abandonment and their father's cruelty. All her life, she has longed for love and approval, but Althea seems to find fault with almost everything she does. Now that she's in charge of caring for Althea's children, Lillian wonders if she'll finally be able to measure up to her sister's extremely high standards.

Viola, the middle sister, left town as soon as she graduated from high school. She doesn't necessarily dislike her family, but neither does she relish the thought of living near them. When Althea and Proctor are arrested and Lillian is overwhelmed almost to the point of collapse, Viola is forced to return home and face both the ghosts of her past and the mysteries of an uncertain future.

This is the story of a family in crisis, of sisters, mothers, and daughters struggling to survive in a world that is often cruel and unfeeling. It's the kind of book that is sure to tug at the heartstrings of its readers, but also leave them with a ton to think about. Ms. Gray doesn't shy away from the darker side of family life. Instead, she faces a number of unpleasant situations head on, and I appreciated the sensitivity she shows when discussing things like child abuse and neglect.

If you're looking for a book filled with likable characters, this one isn't for you. It's certainly not that these characters are inherently bad, but a few of them do take a bit of getting used to. Althea, in particular, was hard for me to warm up to. She comes off as so very self-righteous, ready to point the finger at anyone who transgresses even the slightest bit. She wants the people around her to think she's above reproach, but it's obvious to the reader pretty early on that she's anything but a paragon of virtue. Ms. Gray does a great job creating characters who dwell in that gray area inhabited by many of the people in our real lives, and whereas I didn't always love everything about Althea and her family, I felt like I at the very least understood them.

My one quibble with this book has to do with the crime Althea and Proctor have been accused of committing. I never felt like I knew what they had actually done and what they were accused of doing. Maybe those things were one and the same, but it just wasn't clear. We are given a few glimpses into Althea's thoughts as she sits in jail, but they don't provide much in the way of clear-cut information. Certain things are revealed near the end of the book, but I was still left with questions.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is not a perfect book, but it's still worth your time and attention. The author excels at painting vivid pictures with her words, and the story she's telling is both timely and important.

Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
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Like this novel’s beautiful cover art, sorrow has many faces. The Butler sisters lost their mother too early and never recovered. The eldest sister, Althea, tried her best to take care for her siblings, but she didn’t know how. She tried to take care for her daughters, but she didn’t know how. Mistakes were made. Viola, the brilliant middle daughter, longs for relief from inner turmoil, but won’t accept help. Lillian, the youngest daughter, was too terrified to speak her truth until Althea’s mistakes land her in jail and left Lillian to care for her nieces. Although the Butler siblings’ father and mother were not part of the action of the story, they both loom large in their adult daughters’ psyches and play an important part in their healing.

This novel was incredibly dark at times as we watch the three sisters battle their demons alone. I found myself willing the characters to just talk to each other so they could support each other. In less skillful hands this character driven novel would have been difficult to read, but Anissa Gray made me care for the Butler sisters so much, I couldn’t look away. The prose is lovely and Gray doesn’t pull many punches. It has been several weeks since I finished this book and I am still thinking about the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of the novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and Anissa Gray for the opportunity to read this wonderful debut novel.

We learn from the start that Althea and her husband, Proctor, are in jail for embezzlement from their business and the townspeople. But the real story begins both before and after the trial. Before - Althea is the oldest of 4 siblings, raised by a mostly-absent, mean father after their mother died. Althea had to step in to raise her siblings and carried much resentment towards her father. Lillian, the baby, ends up back living with the dad when he is somewhat of a changed man and therefore has a different relationship with Lillian. The other two siblings, Viola and Joe, have their own struggles and demons. After the trial, all of Althea's siblings and her two twin daughters are left to face the wrath of the townspeople as well as trying to cope with their new situation of caring for the girls while the parents are in jail.

This is definitely a book about all the things that make us human - family, loyalty, forgiveness, and hopefully moving towards healing and a new normal. Beautiful debut!

Fantastic book! The characters spoke to me the entire time- echoing the struggle to discover your true self.

I finished this book three days ago and I am still thinking about it. The storytelling is somewhat fragmented, but that matches how the characters' lives are fragmented. In the beginning there were a number of characters to keep straight; this is something I struggle with, so I made a list. I can't decide if this book tries to tell too many stories or if the gravity of all the situations bring a necessary weight to the family. In any case, I liked reading about the various plights of these grown sisters and their loved ones.

Oh, sisters. This relationship is fraught in the best of times, but add some challenges and the situation can implode. This is the story of a complicated family facing adversity, and Gray hits every note and finesses every layer beautifully.

“Words can either feed you or eat you alive.”

I wanted The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls for the title alone and was beyond shocked when I received an advanced copy back in October . . . . which I then promptly made sure to not read due to the blurbage that stated it was for fans of An American Marriage. Uhhhhhhhhhhh. With the release date quickly approaching I figured it was time to put on my big girl panties and let the chips fall where they may.

I opted to bite the bullet when I got home from work last Thursday (a night that I usually have alone, but thanks to endless ice/rain/sleet/hail/thundersnow (yes, that’s a thing) I had the family with me). Luckily a snow day for Friday had already been called and the hubs had a very important Iowa Hawkeye basketball game to watch so it was pretty much like no one was there anyway. It was a good thing too because I read this book cover-to-cover in the course of that evening – becoming so wrapped up in the lives of the Butler family that I totally ignored my own.

The story here begins with Althea and her husband Proctor being sentenced to the federal penitentiary for food stamp and charity fraud. What unfolds is the history of three sisters and a brother who grew up in a family the firmly believes in the principal . . . .

“The past is the past.”

The reader discovers the Butlers are a group who should have had someone willing to have a "Celie moment" (y'all know what I'm talking about) with at least one family member if not several!

I will admit that there were some things I wanted to know moremoremoremoremore about – specifically Althea and Proctor's crimes. However, I fully understand that since those two characters were incarcerated it would have been more than a little far-fetched for them to share any additional details that had not been provided/alluded to. (Inquiring minds still want to know/are disappointed they don't, though - because NOSEY.) But really, at the end of the day? Family drama is my siren song - 4 Stars.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

Writing: 3.5/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 5/5

This book has all the makings of an Oprah book club selection — it’s a well-written, family oriented drama, full of people with serious personal issues but who are striving to deal with them (and succeeding). The triple narrative switches between the first-person viewpoints of the three Butler sisters: Althea (48), convicted of government fraud and in prison; Viola (40), recently separated from her partner and subject to long-term eating disorders; and Lillian (36), in the old family homestead struggling to take care of Althea’s teenaged twin daughters and her 88-year old ex-mother-in-law (who is one of my favorite characters).

Insightful character studies that elicit empathy in the reader without being overly dramatic (though gut-wrenching in places) — I was surprised that the author actually got me to understand and empathize with Althea, who after all had stolen charity money from people who could ill afford it. The characters bring to life the impact and genesis of several issues: IED — Intermittent Explosive Disorder, eating disorders, the stigma of jailed parents in a small community, and childhood abuse. Sometimes painful to read, but generally uplifting in the way the characters draw together for healing and never give up on themselves or each other.

Althea, Viola, Joe and Lillian were the Butler children. The childhood was not the best as their mother died when they were young and their father was abusive but wasn’t around very much. Althea was only 12 years old when she was left in charge of the family. Their problems as children follow them into adulthood. Althea is now middle age and is on trial, along with her husband Proctor, for food stamp fraud and taking money from their community members through their charitable works. Althea and Proctor were highly regarded for all they did for the community so their fall from grace was difficult for them, their family and the entire community. Their twin teenage daughters, Kim and Baby Vi, are living with Lillian, who has her hands full with them. Viola is now a therapist but struggling with bulimia and is estranged from her wife. And Joe – well, Joe has a lot to be regretful about.

This tale of a dysfunctional family and their demons and the effect of Althea and Proctor’s theft on the family and community failed to capture my heart. I had absolutely no sympathy for Althea and Proctor and the mess they found themselves in. While I did sympathize with the rest of the family, their plight seemed to be removed and I just read the book from a distance. I just didn’t connect with the characters much at all. I found some of the book repetitive and drawn out. It wasn’t a terrible book and I kept reading to find out what happened. There was one point towards the end of the book where I thought the book was finished but was surprised to see that it kept going. I think it would have been a better ending a bit earlier on. Maybe it was just me and from the reviews it does seem that I’m in the minority but I can’t give this book more than 3 stars nor can I recommend it.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Such an honest portrayal of families rallying together while they are coming apart.
Althea is the eldest sister, the one in jail, and she must rely on her younger sisters to take care of her girls, as her husband Proctor is also jailed. How does this happen to such a respected family? Do they even know what really happened?
A raw portrayal of a family in crisis, where dysfunction is normal. But can a family come together and heal from the hurt and betrayal they have all suffered?
Anissa Gray weaves a beautiful and emotional story that resonates for so many reasons. What would you do for your family?