Betty Book Review

Title: Betty
Author: Tiffany McDaniel
Type: Fiction
Published: 2020
Pages: 465
TW: Sexual Assault, Rape, Racism, Sexism & Misogyny, Violence

“There are too many enemies in life to be one of yourself. So when I turned seventeen, an age that gives one permission to light the flame of new passions, I decided to refuse hate’s ambition.” 

Beginning her story in 1950s Appalachia, Betty Carpenter is born in a bathtub to a white mother and a Cherokee father. She is one of eight siblings, not all of whom have survived infancy, and she is born into a world that labels her as cursed and ‘other’. This is her story of childhood, of identity, and finding her voice.

When I first started reading Betty, I was suitably intrigued, but capable of walking away from the book and picking it up later. However as I moved through the story and got more and more invested in Betty and her family, I realised quite what a hold they had on me. McDaniel subtly but determinedly made me fall in love with these characters and their story so that by the end, I was well and truly hooked.

Betty herself is a fierce and proud girl; she sees the word through innocent eyes at first, and as she grows up, begins learning about the harsh truths of reality. There are many moments in this novel that almost brought me to tears and to think it’s partially autobiographical is truly heart-breaking, but McDaniel did this story such justice.

Despite the difficult parts of the novel, there’s also plenty of beauty to be found; in particular, Betty’s relationship with her father was really beautiful, I loved the way they interacted, the stories he told, and the wisdom he tried to bestow upon Betty and her siblings.

Betty is a slow burn read but by the end it will have you so firmly gripped you won’t want to let go. I adored this book (one of my top 3 reads of 2022) and kept thinking about it for a long time after turning the final page. Betty’s story isn’t easy to read, one filled with enough pain and hardship to last someone a lifetime, but I am so glad I read it.