Bad Fruit by Ella King has a couple of bad apples and one girl just trying to survive them.
Synopsis
It’s the summer holidays, and Lily is waiting for the fall when she’ll commence her first year of university at Oxford. Until then, she has to continue single-handedly managing her mother’s erratic moods since her father and siblings are incapable of doing so. From preparing her mother’s favourite Singaporean meals and spoiled juice to altering her appearance to look more like her, Lily will do just about anything to avoid her mother’s wrath.
As the summer progresses, Lily begins having disturbing flashbacks in addition to dealing with her mother’s increasingly unstable behaviour.
Review of Bad Fruit
This novel examines weighty topics such as inter-generational trauma and abusive cycles.
Despite the heavy subject matter, the novel, at least initially, is prevented from feeling truly gloomy by Lily’s narration and her support network. However, at its peak, I felt that the author came just shy of emotionally manipulating the reader. Any more abuse and it would have felt gratuitous.
That said, this domestic drama is impressive. It’s been a few weeks since I finished reading this, and I still find myself going back and thinking about it. It’s a short and quick read with a strong female character. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for future books by the author.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Expected Publication: 23 August 2022
Thank you to Astra House for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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