The Ash Family: A Novel by Molly Dektar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Three days or the rest of your life
“Come, my soul, and let us try, for a little season, every burden to lay by, come and let us reason.”
Berie wants none of it. At 19 years old, she doesn’t want her life. Not her college. Not even her boyfriend or her mother. However, till she meets Bay at a bus station, she has no idea what life actually holds for her and if she even wants what it has to offer. Bay hands her a life unexpected but with one condition: three days or the rest of your life.
“What if I stay longer than three days but want to leave after?” I said.
“Why would you want to leave, when you’ll have more freedom here than anywhere else?” he said.
But at what point does freedom become captivity and when you’ve pushed the world away, how does one escape?
And at what point, when does one no longer want to escape?
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The author shines a light in a unique way on what it’s like to live within a cult, with a “family” in the mountains, where a leader uses love and fear to keep everyone together. It’s told in a way that helps you to really see aspects of a life otherwise seemingly ludicrous. The idea behind this book is fantastic and one I would’ve loved to be pulled into. Molly Dektar did a PHENOMENAL job in her descriptions that painted incredible pictures all throughout the book. The details and descriptions were impressive. This author clearly did her research and it shows and these are the reasons I would give this book 4 stars. Surprisingly, I didn’t actually read the whole book in full. I struggled quite a bit in reading this, skimming over many pages, and was actually so glad to be finished. It’s the first book I’ve not liked reading yet gave it a higher rating.
Maybe this book will be for you. Definitely give it a shot – it really is worth a try! The writing style wasn’t for me but it definitely is for someone and I really am glad I read this novel.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the ARC
The Ash Family: A Novel
Molly Dektar
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