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Bad fruit
Lily is a good daughter.
Every evening she pours Mama a glass of perfectly spoilt orange juice. She arranges the teddy bears on Mama’s quilt, she puts on her matching pink clothes. Anything to help put out the fire of Mama’s rage.
Mama is a good liar.
But Mama is becoming unpredictable, dangerous. And as she starts to unravel, so do the memories that Lily has kept locked away for so long.
She only wanted to be good, to help piece Mama back together. But as home truths creep out of the shadows, Lily must recast what if her house isn’t a home – but a prison? What if Mama isn’t a protector – but a monster . . .
Every evening she pours Mama a glass of perfectly spoilt orange juice. She arranges the teddy bears on Mama’s quilt, she puts on her matching pink clothes. Anything to help put out the fire of Mama’s rage.
Mama is a good liar.
But Mama is becoming unpredictable, dangerous. And as she starts to unravel, so do the memories that Lily has kept locked away for so long.
She only wanted to be good, to help piece Mama back together. But as home truths creep out of the shadows, Lily must recast what if her house isn’t a home – but a prison? What if Mama isn’t a protector – but a monster . . .
320 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 837 reviews
March 12, 2022
HAPPY PUB DAY TO THIS BANGER!!!!!
Thank you Astra Publishing House and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
Writing: 4/5 | Plot: 4/5 | Ending: 5/5
TRIGGER WARNING: rape, self-harm, domestic violence
THE PLOT
Lily lives to appease her ruthless, abusive mother. She doesn't try to understand her mother's behaviour, just survive it, but when she starts having flashbacks about her mother's past, she is forced to peel back layers of generational abuse.
MY OPINION
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a thriller. This is a literary novel exploring the nuanced, complex relationships between a family riddled with generational abuse. DO NOT pick this up expecting some whodunit type novel.
OOHHWEEE my therapist is gonna get an earful when I see her next. I don't want to reveal too much about my family life—I mean I'm wearing a ski mask in my profile pic so that should give you an idea of my desire to be incognito—but this particular story was difficile to get through.
IF YOU HAVE A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MOTHER OR FATHER OR BOTH, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. If you don't have the coping mechanisms to deal with being #triggered by family abuse, don't self-harm by forcing yourself to read this. Mental health >>>>>>
I didn't look into the author too much before reading—I just checked to make sure if she was Asian because ain't no way I'm reading a story about an Asian tiger mom on bath salts and her half-asian daughter written by some white chick from North Dakota (more on this later). But, after I finished, I read the author was not only Asian, but a corporate lawyer involved in anti-human trafficking and child abuse. Her expertise shone through. I could tell she understand the many, MANY layers of domestic abuse; the sick Stockholm Syndrome, the bargaining (I'll take it because they'll pay for my school), the guilt...she nailed it.
It was important to me the author is Asian because I'm TIREDT of white people only including Asian women to be petite, trophy wives to fat, rich white guys. I loved The Darkest Web—but literally the only POC in the entire book was a shrewd Asian woman mooching off her lawyer husband. NEXT. And since this book got deep with it and the way culture influences family dynamics, understanding that on a genetic level is necessary. Now, I'm not saying all Asian moms are like this, or only Asian moms can be like this—but let's just put it this way, if you know, you know. And Ella King KNOWS.
The writing was just okay—a lil too try hard in some areas, but damn she nailed that plot and the ending. I'm glad it was a positive ending. I don't think I could've taken any more sadness tbh. And I loved how the author included two characters that actually cared and helped. You need people outside of your situation to get you out the other side.
No snark here. Just feels. This book will weigh heavy on my heart for a long time.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: heart-wrenching but on-point depiction of fucked up family dynamics at its best, great depiction of Asian culture and values influencing said dynamics
Cons: writing was a little OD at some points
Thank you Astra Publishing House and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
Writing: 4/5 | Plot: 4/5 | Ending: 5/5
TRIGGER WARNING: rape, self-harm, domestic violence
THE PLOT
Lily lives to appease her ruthless, abusive mother. She doesn't try to understand her mother's behaviour, just survive it, but when she starts having flashbacks about her mother's past, she is forced to peel back layers of generational abuse.
MY OPINION
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a thriller. This is a literary novel exploring the nuanced, complex relationships between a family riddled with generational abuse. DO NOT pick this up expecting some whodunit type novel.
OOHHWEEE my therapist is gonna get an earful when I see her next. I don't want to reveal too much about my family life—I mean I'm wearing a ski mask in my profile pic so that should give you an idea of my desire to be incognito—but this particular story was difficile to get through.
IF YOU HAVE A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MOTHER OR FATHER OR BOTH, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. If you don't have the coping mechanisms to deal with being #triggered by family abuse, don't self-harm by forcing yourself to read this. Mental health >>>>>>
I didn't look into the author too much before reading—I just checked to make sure if she was Asian because ain't no way I'm reading a story about an Asian tiger mom on bath salts and her half-asian daughter written by some white chick from North Dakota (more on this later). But, after I finished, I read the author was not only Asian, but a corporate lawyer involved in anti-human trafficking and child abuse. Her expertise shone through. I could tell she understand the many, MANY layers of domestic abuse; the sick Stockholm Syndrome, the bargaining (I'll take it because they'll pay for my school), the guilt...she nailed it.
It was important to me the author is Asian because I'm TIREDT of white people only including Asian women to be petite, trophy wives to fat, rich white guys. I loved The Darkest Web—but literally the only POC in the entire book was a shrewd Asian woman mooching off her lawyer husband. NEXT. And since this book got deep with it and the way culture influences family dynamics, understanding that on a genetic level is necessary. Now, I'm not saying all Asian moms are like this, or only Asian moms can be like this—but let's just put it this way, if you know, you know. And Ella King KNOWS.
The writing was just okay—a lil too try hard in some areas, but damn she nailed that plot and the ending. I'm glad it was a positive ending. I don't think I could've taken any more sadness tbh. And I loved how the author included two characters that actually cared and helped. You need people outside of your situation to get you out the other side.
No snark here. Just feels. This book will weigh heavy on my heart for a long time.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: heart-wrenching but on-point depiction of fucked up family dynamics at its best, great depiction of Asian culture and values influencing said dynamics
Cons: writing was a little OD at some points
August 11, 2022
Bad Fruit has a couple of bad apples and one girl just trying to survive them.
It’s the summer holidays, and Lily is waiting for the fall when she’ll commence her first year at Oxford. Until then, she must continue to single-handedly manage her mother’s erratic moods since her father and siblings are incapable of doing so. From preparing her mother’s favourite Singaporean meals 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.
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, in my opinion.
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!
Thank you to Astra House for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://booksandwheels.com
It’s the summer holidays, and Lily is waiting for the fall when she’ll commence her first year at Oxford. Until then, she must continue to single-handedly manage her mother’s erratic moods since her father and siblings are incapable of doing so. From preparing her mother’s favourite Singaporean meals 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.
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, in my opinion.
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!
Thank you to Astra House for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://booksandwheels.com
March 10, 2022
Orange Crush.
I didn’t want to do it.
Read the book too quickly, that is!
Sometimes I just know that a book is for me. After high praise from a trusted UK friend, I quickly attempted to source this and was able to find it at the Book Depository. I pre-ordered a copy and resigned myself to waiting until publication.
However, I luckily saw this on EW and jumped on the chance to plead my case (begged really) for an advanced copy. I was thrilled on receipt and began reading almost immediately.
Our main character Lily is on the brink of attending her dream college in the fall. She only has two remaining months to survive her mother’s moods and catering to her demands. She wants and needs to get away!
The dysfunctional (and abusive) relationship between Lily and her mother is the focus, but the rest of her family doesn’t fare well either. In addition, other hidden issues surface during the course of the story.
With shades of Mommy Dearest, the hangers stay in the closet, but words and manipulation are wielded to maximum effect with disturbing results. I was in turn unsettled, angry, and hopeful with other emotions in between.
The story is dense but not completely dark. It’s lightened by Lily’s engaging character and the author’s unique writing style. It was a pleasure to read fresh and sophisticated wording and my literary appreciation was balanced with the weighty subject matter.
Having little knowledge of things Singaporean, I loved the cultural descriptions too. Food shopping, preparation, and cooking were almost characters themselves and I chortled a bit with the mention of calamari in particular.
To the uninitiated, dried calamari is to some as potato chips are to others. Salty, sweet, stringy dried squid packaged as a tasty snack. Yum? I’m not much of a fan - but I’m not a potato chip connoisseur either.
I loved this exemplary book and I’m sorry it’s over. I’m keeping my standing pre-order so I’ll have it on my shelf to read again one day.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Ella King, and Astra House for my electronic review copy set to publish on August 23, 2022.
July 29, 2022
Lily is the youngest of the three children of May who is Singaporean and Charlie who is British. The story is told from the viewpoint of Lily, 18, who has been offered a place at Oxford and just wants to survive the summer at home. She feels it's her duty to play the family peacekeeper between her volatile mother and the rest of the family.
This is an exceptional novel about a toxic mother-daughter relationship and I found it extremely difficult to put down. It's definitely psychological in nature but I don't know if I'd call it a thriller. More like fiction or literary fiction as another reviewer noted. I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to give anything away. I'll just say that I was emotionally wrung out by the ending which I really liked by the way.
TW: Yes, lots of them! Proceed with caution.
I wish to express my gratitude to Astra Publishing House via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this debut novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Date of Publication: August 23, 2022
This is an exceptional novel about a toxic mother-daughter relationship and I found it extremely difficult to put down. It's definitely psychological in nature but I don't know if I'd call it a thriller. More like fiction or literary fiction as another reviewer noted. I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to give anything away. I'll just say that I was emotionally wrung out by the ending which I really liked by the way.
TW: Yes, lots of them! Proceed with caution.
I wish to express my gratitude to Astra Publishing House via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this debut novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Date of Publication: August 23, 2022
January 9, 2022
It’s summer and 18 year old Lily is waiting to take up her place to study law at Oxford. In the meantime she is caught between her warring parents, well, her mother Mae is certainly at war. Lily is a mamas girl, she panders to her mothers every whim and some of those are extreme. Lily escapes to a bolthole she has created in the attic and as if the toxic atmosphere in the home isn’t bad enough she starts to have flashbacks which present a puzzling conundrum, who exactly is the bad fruit?
I like selecting debut novels mostly so you can spot who you think might be the next ‘big thing’ and an automatic author to read. I have a very strong feeling that Ella King will fall into that category. This is a very powerful, emotional and heartbreaking debut. Initially it seems to be darkly funny until it’s not. There are some scenes at the beginning that are entertaining and very visual but then you start to fully appreciate the lengths that have to be gone to in order to keep Mama Mae sweet. The impact she has seems to be like dynamite then you realise it’s nuclear with all the fallout. Lily‘s sister Julia is a Molotov cocktail and Lily is the UN peacekeeping force. A sense of fear, foreboding and impending doom begins to provide the storytelling and that builds in intensity and it’s palpable.
It’s excellent on the exhausting psychological and emotional toll within the household and there are some original metaphors to describe it. It’s equally fascinating on the psychology of the siblings and their fathers survival of all the toxicity, damage and control and it makes for riveting reading that is increasingly shocking as you begin to get a truer picture. The characterisation is excellent especially of Lily and the introduction of Lewis into the storytelling gives the reader hope of salvation for Lily. As it reaches a climax towards the end it’s heartbreaking, so tense the atmosphere can be cut with a knife and although it’s not an easy read you are transfixed. My jaw literally falls open on occasions with what ensues. The ending is exactly what you hope for.
Overall, this is an incredibly well written novel that has you full of questions from the start and you do get answers. The pace is pitched extremely well and I genuinely couldn’t put it down as this is a psychological thriller that has you in its grip throughout. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Emma Pickard at HarperFiction for the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.
I like selecting debut novels mostly so you can spot who you think might be the next ‘big thing’ and an automatic author to read. I have a very strong feeling that Ella King will fall into that category. This is a very powerful, emotional and heartbreaking debut. Initially it seems to be darkly funny until it’s not. There are some scenes at the beginning that are entertaining and very visual but then you start to fully appreciate the lengths that have to be gone to in order to keep Mama Mae sweet. The impact she has seems to be like dynamite then you realise it’s nuclear with all the fallout. Lily‘s sister Julia is a Molotov cocktail and Lily is the UN peacekeeping force. A sense of fear, foreboding and impending doom begins to provide the storytelling and that builds in intensity and it’s palpable.
It’s excellent on the exhausting psychological and emotional toll within the household and there are some original metaphors to describe it. It’s equally fascinating on the psychology of the siblings and their fathers survival of all the toxicity, damage and control and it makes for riveting reading that is increasingly shocking as you begin to get a truer picture. The characterisation is excellent especially of Lily and the introduction of Lewis into the storytelling gives the reader hope of salvation for Lily. As it reaches a climax towards the end it’s heartbreaking, so tense the atmosphere can be cut with a knife and although it’s not an easy read you are transfixed. My jaw literally falls open on occasions with what ensues. The ending is exactly what you hope for.
Overall, this is an incredibly well written novel that has you full of questions from the start and you do get answers. The pace is pitched extremely well and I genuinely couldn’t put it down as this is a psychological thriller that has you in its grip throughout. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Emma Pickard at HarperFiction for the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.
July 13, 2022
This is the story of Lily and the abuse she's been dealt by her neurotic and cruel Singaporean mother.
Books like this typically hit me right in the heart. How can they not? The idea of a child being abused by anyone much less their own parents that should love them unconditionally is heartbreaking.
However there was something about this book that left me cold. Throughout the story Lily suffers from hallucinations but the hallucinations are actually flashbacks to her mothers abusive childhood and they are causing Lily to suffer panic attacks. Lily is now wondering what is true and what is false and whether or not her mother has ever been honest with her.
I don't know, I just feel like I should have felt something tugging at my heartstrings and I didn't. I just could not get immersed in this story no matter how sharp the actual writing was. I know her mother experienced horrific abuse but I'm not a believer in that being any justification for abusing her own children but I say that as someone who grew up with loving and supporting parents. What do I know? On this subject, thankfully, very little.
This book is receiving many glowing reviews and they are all worthy. This is a case of a book just not being the right fit for me at the moment. I think my expectations going into this were a little skewed imagining this as a twisty psychological thriller and this is NOT that. I would consider this a family / domestic drama.
While I know this isn't the most glowing review I will say that Ella King has tremendous talent and a very bright future ahead of her and I very much look forward to see what she comes up with next. 3 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for my complimentary copy.
Books like this typically hit me right in the heart. How can they not? The idea of a child being abused by anyone much less their own parents that should love them unconditionally is heartbreaking.
However there was something about this book that left me cold. Throughout the story Lily suffers from hallucinations but the hallucinations are actually flashbacks to her mothers abusive childhood and they are causing Lily to suffer panic attacks. Lily is now wondering what is true and what is false and whether or not her mother has ever been honest with her.
I don't know, I just feel like I should have felt something tugging at my heartstrings and I didn't. I just could not get immersed in this story no matter how sharp the actual writing was. I know her mother experienced horrific abuse but I'm not a believer in that being any justification for abusing her own children but I say that as someone who grew up with loving and supporting parents. What do I know? On this subject, thankfully, very little.
This book is receiving many glowing reviews and they are all worthy. This is a case of a book just not being the right fit for me at the moment. I think my expectations going into this were a little skewed imagining this as a twisty psychological thriller and this is NOT that. I would consider this a family / domestic drama.
While I know this isn't the most glowing review I will say that Ella King has tremendous talent and a very bright future ahead of her and I very much look forward to see what she comes up with next. 3 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for my complimentary copy.
July 31, 2022
Bad fruit? More like a whole bad orchard!
This story is about one of the most dysfunctional and toxic families it would ever be your misfortune to meet. Let’s meet the family:
May (Mai), mama - the mother, Singaporean, batsh1t crazy, financial
adviser, how she maintains a professional job is beyond me
Charlie (papa) - presumably English, pathologist, spineless, or is he?
Jacob - their oldest child, married to Francine, separated 2 young boys
Julie - middle child, away at college
Lily - 17, finished school, heading to Oxford, mama’s favourite.
Lily is her mother’s current favourite child - her “little doll”, not a moniker to aspire to. Lily appears to be somewhat brainwashed to pander to her mother’s increasingly insane demands. She goes out of her way to please mama, including wearing yellow foundation to make her look more Asian and dying her hair black and preparing mama’s spoiled orange juice (yuk) although Lily has to taste it first (double yuk).
Mama’s gets increasingly demented when she suspects her husband of having having an affair with his daughter in law, Francine, Jacob’s estranged wife. Lily’s mind starts to fracture and she starts having flashbacks of her mother’s early life. How is this possible? This part reminded me a lot about Mirrorland a book in which every revelation only raised more questions. If you think of it like peeling away the layers of an onion, you need to picture a humongous onion as there are many, many layers.
As the story progresses you also start to wonder if Lily’s flashbacks are really of her mother’s early life or are they Lily’s own. It becomes increasing apparent that Charlie will be no help and may even be complicit in his children’s terrible abuse. Can Lily break away from her toxic family’s influence and make her own way in life? You will have read this to find out!
This was no thriller, it was a very, very dark story of inter generational abuse. I’m not even sure I fully understood it but I can say the author did a tremendous job in setting out a totally menacing storyline. There are many triggers littering this story like land mines. Enter at your own risk. Again, I’m not sure I can say that I enjoyed this book but I am in awe of the author’s unflinching spotlight on the darker aspects of Asian society and family dysfunction. Many thanks to Netgalley and Astra Publishing House for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
This story is about one of the most dysfunctional and toxic families it would ever be your misfortune to meet. Let’s meet the family:
May (Mai), mama - the mother, Singaporean, batsh1t crazy, financial
adviser, how she maintains a professional job is beyond me
Charlie (papa) - presumably English, pathologist, spineless, or is he?
Jacob - their oldest child, married to Francine, separated 2 young boys
Julie - middle child, away at college
Lily - 17, finished school, heading to Oxford, mama’s favourite.
Lily is her mother’s current favourite child - her “little doll”, not a moniker to aspire to. Lily appears to be somewhat brainwashed to pander to her mother’s increasingly insane demands. She goes out of her way to please mama, including wearing yellow foundation to make her look more Asian and dying her hair black and preparing mama’s spoiled orange juice (yuk) although Lily has to taste it first (double yuk).
Mama’s gets increasingly demented when she suspects her husband of having having an affair with his daughter in law, Francine, Jacob’s estranged wife. Lily’s mind starts to fracture and she starts having flashbacks of her mother’s early life. How is this possible? This part reminded me a lot about Mirrorland a book in which every revelation only raised more questions. If you think of it like peeling away the layers of an onion, you need to picture a humongous onion as there are many, many layers.
As the story progresses you also start to wonder if Lily’s flashbacks are really of her mother’s early life or are they Lily’s own. It becomes increasing apparent that Charlie will be no help and may even be complicit in his children’s terrible abuse. Can Lily break away from her toxic family’s influence and make her own way in life? You will have read this to find out!
This was no thriller, it was a very, very dark story of inter generational abuse. I’m not even sure I fully understood it but I can say the author did a tremendous job in setting out a totally menacing storyline. There are many triggers littering this story like land mines. Enter at your own risk. Again, I’m not sure I can say that I enjoyed this book but I am in awe of the author’s unflinching spotlight on the darker aspects of Asian society and family dysfunction. Many thanks to Netgalley and Astra Publishing House for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
August 25, 2022
So here I am again, standing at the fridge door, my tongue clinging to the roof of my mouth. Blood orange juice, three days off. I try it, gag and spit it down the plughole. Perfect.
I wasn't actually planning on reading this today, I just opened it to check it out - then boom, Ella King's absolutely stunning story sucked me in and dumped me out three hours later. Bad Fruit is heartbreaking, but just so beautifully written.
It starts with Lily, only weeks away from starting at Oxford, jumping through every hoop she can think of to keep her volatile mother happy, down to tasting the spoiled juice her mother likes - she can tell if Lily doesn't. And then the memories start, flashbacks that don't belong to Lily at all, but are her mother's memories; and as Lily starts to unwrap that mystery, the story of her own family is unfolded right alongside it.
It's genuinely taken the breath out of me, this book - I love it, but I'm definitely going to need some recovery time after the gutpunches in that ending. The conceit is so smart, taking generational trauma and making it literal, and the way the author writes characters you'll care about and then shows you the full extent of their trauma - brutal even as a reader who knows it's fiction, but that's the genius of the writing.
Loved it, am going to go read something fluffy for a little bit, and oh my god I just noticed this is a debut. Definitely an author to be hanging out for more from.
I wasn't actually planning on reading this today, I just opened it to check it out - then boom, Ella King's absolutely stunning story sucked me in and dumped me out three hours later. Bad Fruit is heartbreaking, but just so beautifully written.
It starts with Lily, only weeks away from starting at Oxford, jumping through every hoop she can think of to keep her volatile mother happy, down to tasting the spoiled juice her mother likes - she can tell if Lily doesn't. And then the memories start, flashbacks that don't belong to Lily at all, but are her mother's memories; and as Lily starts to unwrap that mystery, the story of her own family is unfolded right alongside it.
It's genuinely taken the breath out of me, this book - I love it, but I'm definitely going to need some recovery time after the gutpunches in that ending. The conceit is so smart, taking generational trauma and making it literal, and the way the author writes characters you'll care about and then shows you the full extent of their trauma - brutal even as a reader who knows it's fiction, but that's the genius of the writing.
Loved it, am going to go read something fluffy for a little bit, and oh my god I just noticed this is a debut. Definitely an author to be hanging out for more from.
September 30, 2024
This book would've been just two pages thick if someone, just a single person in the book, grew a pair and sent the Mum character to a mental institution. And those two pages include the foreword and the acknowledgements as well.
April 9, 2023
I didn't enjoy this tale of a mother/daughter toxic relationship as much as I'd hoped to, perhaps because I stupidly read it back to back with another book that involved parental abuse, it was a bit of a trauma overload. Saying that however, I really didn't like any of the characters, and all the odd behaviour felt disturbingly over the top. The mother was a complete nutbag, I couldn't drum up any sympathy for her, she's beyond vile, and I couldn't understand why everyone carried on putting up with her - having unresolved issues yourself does not make it ok to abuse others. The father was weak and creepy, and I found the whole thing frustrating. Full disclosure, first person narratives are not my favourite, especially when there's trauma involved, it can be exhausting, so I think this is definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me" as most reviews are 4 and 5 star.
2.5 stars rounded down, but I'd still be interested to read more from this author.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
2.5 stars rounded down, but I'd still be interested to read more from this author.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
August 27, 2026
In a Nutshell: A contemporary literary fiction novel portraying a highly toxic mother-daughter relationship. Character-oriented. Dark and disturbing. Plenty of triggers. Too much of deliberate secret-keeping and miscommunication, which sullies the overall impact. Might be a decent one-time read, as long as you aren’t looking for characters with redeeming qualities. But to me (and to my present state of mind), this felt like trauma p0rn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
While I can handle books with toxic parents and intergenerational trauma, I like such books only if the characters show some growth along the way. Sadly, in this novel, most of the plot seems like a rehash of the same emotions, with no character depicting any interest in changing their attitude. This might have been tolerable in case of likeable or relatable characters. But given how we are dealing with a dad who is mostly spineless and selfish, a mother who is the most toxic mother I have yet read in fiction, a teen who fends for herself by caving in instead of standing up for her rights, and her elder siblings who are dependent and broken even in their independent lives, the story tests our patience in every way.
Initially, I felt sympathy for some of the characters. But once I realised that they simply didn’t learn from their mistakes and kept doing the same thing over and over, the well of my sympathy ran dry. It would have helped to have at least one *normal* character in this family. But everyone is complicated in a bad way. As the proverb says, ‘one rotten apple spoils the rest’. In this case, the whole family is rotten, justifying the title perfectly.
To add to the issue, each of them keeps loads of secrets, tells plenty of lies, and is a master at miscommunication and misleading. This makes the proceedings even more annoying and tiresome. Having one character acting this way is still understandable. But when every character behaves this way with the rest, the writing feels toxic just for the sake of being toxic.
I wish there had been better character development at least for Charlie. We see why Lily’s mom behaves the way she does, and we also understand that Lily’s lifetime of growing with a manipulative parent has affected her thinking. The latter cause-effect also applies to her siblings. But why is Charlie like that? How is an educated professional not able to see the harm his wife does to his own children? Having some nuances to his character might have provided us with some justification for his silence and tacit compliance. The worst is what he does to Lily in the final quarter of the book. This is such a horrifying and gratuitous development that there was no saving the book after that point for me. Given the author’s professional background, I can only hope against hope that this particular scene isn't based on something she actually came across during her work.
May’s Singaporean background and her annoyance with Lily’s not resembling her is woven well into the plot, but there’s nothing much positive about the Asian representation except perhaps for the food. In many ways, May is the epitome of the Asian “tiger mom”, which is why I wish she had belonged to any non-Asian ethnicity. Such writing just perpetuates the negative stereotypes of Asian parenting.
There are a couple of secondary characters who feel like a breath of fresh air amid all this toxicity, but their roles are very limited. They pop up only when Lily needs some external support. As such, the balance is missing in the book, with the emotions heavily lopsided towards the trauma side of the scale. The story aims to make us feel sorry for Lily and May, but I simply couldn’t feel sorry for the latter.
Lily’s visions are an unusual addition to the storyline. I found it strange that the first conclusion Lily drew on experiencing the vision was that she was having a flashback of someone else’s memories – that’s not where my head would have gone at the start. Anyway, these visions initially seem interesting, but soon become an overly convenient plot device to add a backstory to certain events.
The book shows the damages of long-term abuse and how it chips away at a person’s self-esteem. The writing is good, even poetic at times. The ending too might make many readers happy. But to me, it felt too chirpy after such a traumatic and depressing narrative.
Overall, this debut does impress in how it explores the darkest aspects of human behaviour. But mere dark without light never works for me. If the plot development hadn’t been so convenient and overly toxic, I might have liked this book more.
Recommended to lit fic readers who prefer dark/disturbing character-oriented reads.
2 stars.
My thanks to Harper Collins UK and Harper Fiction for providing the DRC of “Bad Fruit” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
Greenwich, UK. Seventeen-year-old Lily has just graduated from high school and is waiting to start college at Oxford. She is constantly on tenterhooks around her volatile Singaporean mother May. As her British father Charlie also can't keep his wife’s temper in check, it is up to Lily as the only other resident of the house to handle May’s devious tantrums, her elder siblings already having moved out. As May’s behaviour grows increasingly demented, Lily starts getting weird visions where she sees events she knows aren’t from her own life. But these visions reveal some horrifying secrets connected to her own family. Will these visions help Lily finally understand May’s erratic behaviour? Can she hope for normalcy and perhaps even freedom?
The story comes to us in Lily’s first-person perspective.
While I can handle books with toxic parents and intergenerational trauma, I like such books only if the characters show some growth along the way. Sadly, in this novel, most of the plot seems like a rehash of the same emotions, with no character depicting any interest in changing their attitude. This might have been tolerable in case of likeable or relatable characters. But given how we are dealing with a dad who is mostly spineless and selfish, a mother who is the most toxic mother I have yet read in fiction, a teen who fends for herself by caving in instead of standing up for her rights, and her elder siblings who are dependent and broken even in their independent lives, the story tests our patience in every way.
Initially, I felt sympathy for some of the characters. But once I realised that they simply didn’t learn from their mistakes and kept doing the same thing over and over, the well of my sympathy ran dry. It would have helped to have at least one *normal* character in this family. But everyone is complicated in a bad way. As the proverb says, ‘one rotten apple spoils the rest’. In this case, the whole family is rotten, justifying the title perfectly.
To add to the issue, each of them keeps loads of secrets, tells plenty of lies, and is a master at miscommunication and misleading. This makes the proceedings even more annoying and tiresome. Having one character acting this way is still understandable. But when every character behaves this way with the rest, the writing feels toxic just for the sake of being toxic.
I wish there had been better character development at least for Charlie. We see why Lily’s mom behaves the way she does, and we also understand that Lily’s lifetime of growing with a manipulative parent has affected her thinking. The latter cause-effect also applies to her siblings. But why is Charlie like that? How is an educated professional not able to see the harm his wife does to his own children? Having some nuances to his character might have provided us with some justification for his silence and tacit compliance. The worst is what he does to Lily in the final quarter of the book. This is such a horrifying and gratuitous development that there was no saving the book after that point for me. Given the author’s professional background, I can only hope against hope that this particular scene isn't based on something she actually came across during her work.
May’s Singaporean background and her annoyance with Lily’s not resembling her is woven well into the plot, but there’s nothing much positive about the Asian representation except perhaps for the food. In many ways, May is the epitome of the Asian “tiger mom”, which is why I wish she had belonged to any non-Asian ethnicity. Such writing just perpetuates the negative stereotypes of Asian parenting.
There are a couple of secondary characters who feel like a breath of fresh air amid all this toxicity, but their roles are very limited. They pop up only when Lily needs some external support. As such, the balance is missing in the book, with the emotions heavily lopsided towards the trauma side of the scale. The story aims to make us feel sorry for Lily and May, but I simply couldn’t feel sorry for the latter.
Lily’s visions are an unusual addition to the storyline. I found it strange that the first conclusion Lily drew on experiencing the vision was that she was having a flashback of someone else’s memories – that’s not where my head would have gone at the start. Anyway, these visions initially seem interesting, but soon become an overly convenient plot device to add a backstory to certain events.
The book shows the damages of long-term abuse and how it chips away at a person’s self-esteem. The writing is good, even poetic at times. The ending too might make many readers happy. But to me, it felt too chirpy after such a traumatic and depressing narrative.
Overall, this debut does impress in how it explores the darkest aspects of human behaviour. But mere dark without light never works for me. If the plot development hadn’t been so convenient and overly toxic, I might have liked this book more.
Recommended to lit fic readers who prefer dark/disturbing character-oriented reads.
2 stars.
My thanks to Harper Collins UK and Harper Fiction for providing the DRC of “Bad Fruit” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
December 13, 2024
This book was difficult to read. The amount of generational trauma was the biggest car accident you could drive by while rubbernecking. I have to wonder what kind of friend I would've been to Lily (I know I lack the capacity to have befriended her parents). I would like to think I would've been as consistent, compassionate, and forgiving as Lewis, but I don't know...
I'm going to guess a lot of people had a hard time with the book because of the traumas and triggers, but also because the writing wasn't the easiest to follow (due to all the jumbled up memories). For me, it was part of the journey, part of being Lily's ally, because Lily needed to get to where she got on her own strength, at her own pace, through her own process.
What was missing for me from the book was what drove her father to be as he was. Her mother's history was clarified, and it became obvious why she treated her children as she did, but what the hell was Charlie's excuse???? I'd like to see a sequel that delves into Charlie too.
Very heavy book. DO NOT READ if you think it might be harmful to your psyche!
4.5 stars
I'm going to guess a lot of people had a hard time with the book because of the traumas and triggers, but also because the writing wasn't the easiest to follow (due to all the jumbled up memories). For me, it was part of the journey, part of being Lily's ally, because Lily needed to get to where she got on her own strength, at her own pace, through her own process.
What was missing for me from the book was what drove her father to be as he was. Her mother's history was clarified, and it became obvious why she treated her children as she did, but what the hell was Charlie's excuse???? I'd like to see a sequel that delves into Charlie too.
Very heavy book. DO NOT READ if you think it might be harmful to your psyche!
4.5 stars
October 17, 2022
Really the only thing you need to know before picking up Bad Fruit is . . . .
Lily has spent her whole life trying to keep her mother as calm as possible. While her brother, sister and even father are the ones to put her on edge – triggering both emotional and physical outbursts – it is Lily’s job to maintain peace. She’s done everything from taste testing the three-day-old-expired juice mother prefers to dying her hair and wearing colored contacts to appear as Asian as possible in an attempt to keep her sated. Now only eight weeks before the term will begin at Oxford, Lily is counting down to her getaway. But Lily’s starting to have some breaks from reality and flashbacks from a past she’s not sure are from her own life . . . .
This one gets all of its points for being unique. Once again I’m not loving the comparison to My Dark Vanessa being thrown out (I’m assuming at this point Vanessa is the new Gone Girl from the Window of the Train), but if you’re talking in generalities only maybe Bad Fruit passes the sniff test (hyuck hyuck). Don’t go in expecting some thrilling thrillride – however, if you want a sleeper of a literary domestic this one may be up your alley.
3.5 Stars
Lily has spent her whole life trying to keep her mother as calm as possible. While her brother, sister and even father are the ones to put her on edge – triggering both emotional and physical outbursts – it is Lily’s job to maintain peace. She’s done everything from taste testing the three-day-old-expired juice mother prefers to dying her hair and wearing colored contacts to appear as Asian as possible in an attempt to keep her sated. Now only eight weeks before the term will begin at Oxford, Lily is counting down to her getaway. But Lily’s starting to have some breaks from reality and flashbacks from a past she’s not sure are from her own life . . . .
This one gets all of its points for being unique. Once again I’m not loving the comparison to My Dark Vanessa being thrown out (I’m assuming at this point Vanessa is the new Gone Girl from the Window of the Train), but if you’re talking in generalities only maybe Bad Fruit passes the sniff test (hyuck hyuck). Don’t go in expecting some thrilling thrillride – however, if you want a sleeper of a literary domestic this one may be up your alley.
3.5 Stars
January 3, 2022
When we first meet Lily, we see an obedient daughter who anticipates her mother’s every wish. She seems to dote on her in a way is surely not healthy. She prepares her food just the way she likes it, reorganises her wardrobe and soothes her when she is angry. But Mama is angry too often, and violent, and nasty.
I’ve read a lot of thrillers featuring strained relationships between mothers and daughters, but this really is something else.
This dark, psychological thriller is a real page-turner. King’s characters are unbelievably complex, in ways that they don’t always understand themselves, and interactions within the family are unstable, stirring up an volatile cocktail of emotions and memories. This is an edgy, twisty thriller of the highest calibre. I really hope that Ella King is working on her next thriller - this is an author worth looking out for!
Thank you to Harper Fiction and NetGalley UK fpr this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I’ve read a lot of thrillers featuring strained relationships between mothers and daughters, but this really is something else.
This dark, psychological thriller is a real page-turner. King’s characters are unbelievably complex, in ways that they don’t always understand themselves, and interactions within the family are unstable, stirring up an volatile cocktail of emotions and memories. This is an edgy, twisty thriller of the highest calibre. I really hope that Ella King is working on her next thriller - this is an author worth looking out for!
Thank you to Harper Fiction and NetGalley UK fpr this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
January 4, 2022
Ella King won the Blue Pencil Agency pitch prize in 2019 with the first 500 words of her debut novel 'Bad Fruit', an accolade which I am pleased to say is supported by the absolute quality of the entire novel. The ability to launch a story in such a powerful way is just one of the reasons why King's novel is a stunning masterclass in writing a deeply affecting psychological thriller. Having finished this book several days ago, I find myself haunted and moved by the dark events King presents, the representation of intergenerational trauma and the power of memory both skilled and engrossing for the reader.
Without revealing too much, we view the story from the point of view of Lily, a girl about to go off to Oxford. She struggles with the idea of leaving her close relationship with her mother behind, particularly as we gradually see the twisted dependence between mother and daughter. Would Lily's 'mama' function without her daughter, her 'doll'? The 'Bad Fruit' of the title is not just the referring to the mother's taste for soured juice, but giving us a metaphorical insight into the impact parenting can have on the trajectory of children's lives from generation to generation. We are left wondering what really lies at the heart of this strange family and how any of them can escape the destructive cycle of dependence and anger we bear witness to.
The descriptions, of a sweaty, oppressive summer in Greenwich, juxtaposed against the cultural roots of Singapore, leap off the page. King balances the description with plot, the pace of revelation balanced perfectly throughout. This book is going to be devoured by readers who I know will find this dark, twisted tale equally as thrilling as I did. 5 stars,
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Without revealing too much, we view the story from the point of view of Lily, a girl about to go off to Oxford. She struggles with the idea of leaving her close relationship with her mother behind, particularly as we gradually see the twisted dependence between mother and daughter. Would Lily's 'mama' function without her daughter, her 'doll'? The 'Bad Fruit' of the title is not just the referring to the mother's taste for soured juice, but giving us a metaphorical insight into the impact parenting can have on the trajectory of children's lives from generation to generation. We are left wondering what really lies at the heart of this strange family and how any of them can escape the destructive cycle of dependence and anger we bear witness to.
The descriptions, of a sweaty, oppressive summer in Greenwich, juxtaposed against the cultural roots of Singapore, leap off the page. King balances the description with plot, the pace of revelation balanced perfectly throughout. This book is going to be devoured by readers who I know will find this dark, twisted tale equally as thrilling as I did. 5 stars,
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 23, 2023
An, at times, upsetting read all about generational trauma. A few aspects of the story didn’t work for me, but overall it was a really quick, impactful read!!
*also, not really anything to do with book persay, but this book was in the thriller section at my B&N, and it very much is not a thriller 😂
*also, not really anything to do with book persay, but this book was in the thriller section at my B&N, and it very much is not a thriller 😂
Read
January 2, 2024The comp to My Dark Vanessa is off. This is a psychological domestic drama. Fans looking for some dark might be disappointed. It does double down a little towards the last 75 pages but the audiobook made the on-ramp feel so long! 10 hours for a 200+ page book? I had the speed up as high as I could manage. Entertaining enough not to quit but lackluster enough to feel meh about it
January 4, 2022
Bad Fruit is disturbing. It's complex. And it's compelling reading. Seventeen year old Lily spends her life terrified of her Mama's rages. Her father is subservient and often the victim of her ire. Her brother and sister no longer live at home, so Lily adopts the role of peacemaker. Her mother is very particular. Her orange juice must be past its use by date, 'fizzy with a sour tang'. Lily must look more Chinese with yellow make-up, dyed hair and contact lenses. Lily just has to get through the summer and then she can escape to Oxford. But when she begins to be haunted by flashbacks, she is deeply affected. Are they her memories or her mother's? As she pieces together the truth of her mother's life, and her own, she finds herself broken and longing for oblivion. She always believed her mother had a loving side. That the accusations from her sister were false or exaggerated. But she is forced to admit she was wrong. Can Lily escape her mothers clutches and begin a new life? Dealing with complex issues of childhood neglect, sexual and emotional abuse, this is a complex novel. But one that fascinated me as I longed to learn how Mama became the monster she was. And despite her being pretty vile almost all of the time, it is a testament to the author's skill, that by the end of the book, I did have some sympathy for her. A very original and interesting read, dark and disturbing yes, but with delicious moments of black humour and certainly, by the end, a wonderful sense of hope.
July 9, 2024
I really didn’t know what to expect before going into this, but it wasn’t my heart being ripped out. I will be thinking of this book forever
July 5, 2022
This is a potent uncovering of a toxic mother/daughter relationship, generational trauma, and a daughter's attempts to break free - I'm sure many readers will love it but me, I just feel like I've read this story so many times before in contemporary fiction.
There's a vividness in the writing but the flashbacks and sheer number of dark family secrets to be unfurled made it lose some impact for me.
There's a vividness in the writing but the flashbacks and sheer number of dark family secrets to be unfurled made it lose some impact for me.
October 20, 2022
I don’t think I have read any fiction carrying a dysfunctional family theme with this bunch of mental health issues before. This would be the first, and it amazes me on how I actually enjoyed it a lot— although I would say, it was stressful, harrowing and quite blistering too.
Bad Fruit was narrated from Lily’s perspective who lives under the scrutiny of her volatile Singaporean mother, May. When her mom becomes unhinged due to her dad’s suspected affair, Lily starts to have flashbacks which she knows aren’t her own. The family drama becomes more tangled afterwards; series of shattering revelation, siblings with their own complex state and how Lily trying to detach herself from all the mental conflicts that shaking her physically.
This book really giving me so much roller coaster of emotions, slowpaced yet the exploration on the character’s behaviours and mental health were so grippingly crafted. It delves so descriptively into the toxicity of family ties; the dynamic was so flawed with overwhelming fragments of generational trauma, domestic abuse, resentment, of trust and lies, manipulation and the level of fragility that one’s psyche could handled. Intricate and thrilling characterization; Lily can be unreliable but I like her disturbing narration— wicked and so taut. Also. I love the etymology refs and the highlighted peranakan food and culture in between its narrative.
Such an impressively written psychological and literary plot to me— the twisted element in its conflicts were so darkly addictive that I think this would be the most damaged group of characters could ever existed in a plot. Interesting on how the ‘bad fruit’ that specifically related to spoiled orange juice in this story could represents the unpleasant ‘acidity’ of its character’s relationships as well. 4 stars to this!
Thank you Times Reads for sending me a copy to review!
📌 advisable to refer the book’s TW list before proceed to buy/read
Bad Fruit was narrated from Lily’s perspective who lives under the scrutiny of her volatile Singaporean mother, May. When her mom becomes unhinged due to her dad’s suspected affair, Lily starts to have flashbacks which she knows aren’t her own. The family drama becomes more tangled afterwards; series of shattering revelation, siblings with their own complex state and how Lily trying to detach herself from all the mental conflicts that shaking her physically.
This book really giving me so much roller coaster of emotions, slowpaced yet the exploration on the character’s behaviours and mental health were so grippingly crafted. It delves so descriptively into the toxicity of family ties; the dynamic was so flawed with overwhelming fragments of generational trauma, domestic abuse, resentment, of trust and lies, manipulation and the level of fragility that one’s psyche could handled. Intricate and thrilling characterization; Lily can be unreliable but I like her disturbing narration— wicked and so taut. Also. I love the etymology refs and the highlighted peranakan food and culture in between its narrative.
Such an impressively written psychological and literary plot to me— the twisted element in its conflicts were so darkly addictive that I think this would be the most damaged group of characters could ever existed in a plot. Interesting on how the ‘bad fruit’ that specifically related to spoiled orange juice in this story could represents the unpleasant ‘acidity’ of its character’s relationships as well. 4 stars to this!
Thank you Times Reads for sending me a copy to review!
📌 advisable to refer the book’s TW list before proceed to buy/read
May 3, 2022
thank you astra publishing house and netgalley -
i have never read a more visceral book about the volatile relationship between an immigrant parent and their children. i’m not going to lie and say i flew through this book, because in all honesty i had to take days off of reading before picking it back up. Ella King manages to show us how intergenerational/childhood trauma can affect siblings in different ways. King manages to show us the loneliness and the need for control exhibited by Lilly’s mother, May! When her children challenge her, May spit vile words at them calling them worthless. she seeks to destroy them in anyway possible so that they can continue to obey her outrageous demands. she twists their memories, words, and everything in between so much so that her children turn against one another in hopes that one of them will become or remain “mama’s favorite”. we see this more since we are following the last kid, Lilly during the summer before she leaves for Oxford. throughout the hot english summer days she has flashbacks of what appears to be her mother’s childhood and the horrid things that happened to her, with no reason why she’s the one having them. But how can you continue to care for someone who continues to hurt you? At the age of eighteen, Lilly is trying to find the answer to this. She is now fighting for her sense of self and independence, but realizes this will need to progress much faster than she anticipated and will need to figure out who is truly there to help her. fucking heartbreaking and suffocating read! i can’t believe this is a debut novel!!! Go Ella!
tw: rape
i have never read a more visceral book about the volatile relationship between an immigrant parent and their children. i’m not going to lie and say i flew through this book, because in all honesty i had to take days off of reading before picking it back up. Ella King manages to show us how intergenerational/childhood trauma can affect siblings in different ways. King manages to show us the loneliness and the need for control exhibited by Lilly’s mother, May! When her children challenge her, May spit vile words at them calling them worthless. she seeks to destroy them in anyway possible so that they can continue to obey her outrageous demands. she twists their memories, words, and everything in between so much so that her children turn against one another in hopes that one of them will become or remain “mama’s favorite”. we see this more since we are following the last kid, Lilly during the summer before she leaves for Oxford. throughout the hot english summer days she has flashbacks of what appears to be her mother’s childhood and the horrid things that happened to her, with no reason why she’s the one having them. But how can you continue to care for someone who continues to hurt you? At the age of eighteen, Lilly is trying to find the answer to this. She is now fighting for her sense of self and independence, but realizes this will need to progress much faster than she anticipated and will need to figure out who is truly there to help her. fucking heartbreaking and suffocating read! i can’t believe this is a debut novel!!! Go Ella!
tw: rape
July 25, 2022
the premise was interesting and the novel started off strong. it hooked me from the very first line and i was so intrigued by the story that i read the first act in one sitting. the writing was good, too, and the story was executed well.
however, i could not give it a 3 star rating because it got boring after the first act — the constant hallucinations felt repetitive and it made the plot stagnant. i personally thought that it was disruptive to the momentum of the story as there was no forward movement nor further development to the story. the uninteresting reenactments and dry flashbacks interrupted the atmosphere and always took me out of the story. i could not be immersed into the story nor could i connect with the characters because of it.
true that the mother-daughter relationship was nuanced, as were the main character's other relationships, and the author excels at writing the duality and complexity of their dynamics. yet, it still did not pull me into the story. i was not invested at all, which was probably why i was able to fall asleep three times. really, i don't have anything particularly bad to say about the book because i was simply bored. it just didn't do it for me.
i must say though that it does deserve the good reviews, because the author knows what and how to write, which is a rare skill these days. King is indeed an author whose works should be anticipated by everyone. i will look forward to her future works even though this novel was not for me.
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
however, i could not give it a 3 star rating because it got boring after the first act — the constant hallucinations felt repetitive and it made the plot stagnant. i personally thought that it was disruptive to the momentum of the story as there was no forward movement nor further development to the story. the uninteresting reenactments and dry flashbacks interrupted the atmosphere and always took me out of the story. i could not be immersed into the story nor could i connect with the characters because of it.
true that the mother-daughter relationship was nuanced, as were the main character's other relationships, and the author excels at writing the duality and complexity of their dynamics. yet, it still did not pull me into the story. i was not invested at all, which was probably why i was able to fall asleep three times. really, i don't have anything particularly bad to say about the book because i was simply bored. it just didn't do it for me.
i must say though that it does deserve the good reviews, because the author knows what and how to write, which is a rare skill these days. King is indeed an author whose works should be anticipated by everyone. i will look forward to her future works even though this novel was not for me.
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
March 13, 2023
2.5
Một chút thất vọng vì nội dung chẳng hề "đáng lo ngại" như mình được nghe qua, mình có kỳ vọng vì cuốn sách này được so sánh với My Dark Vanessa nhưng khi đọc xong thì mình chẳng thấy vậy.
Bad Fruit lấy góc nhìn từ Lily - cô con gái vừa tròn 18 tuổi, con lai giữa mẹ là người Châu Á và bố là người Anh. Mở đầu truyện với việc bà May - mẹ của Lily đang cãi nhau với bố của Lily về việc bà nghi ngờ chồng đang ngoại tình với cô con dâu cũ. Sau đó, mình được biết về thói quen kỳ lạ của bà May, rằng bà ta muốn Lily chăm sóc, pha nước trái cây hỏng (trái cây sắp thối), thích chơi cùng gấu bông.
Bản ebook mình đọc có hơn 250 trang, phải mất hơn 100 trang mình mới hiểu được nội dung mà tác giả đang nói, hậu quả của sang chấn di truyền qua từng thế hệ y hệt The Push của Ashley Audrain. Mình bắt đầu cảm thấy tồi tệ bởi những gì bà May đã ảnh hưởng đến những đứa con của bà ta, phải nói là cực kỳ tồi tệ. Và Lily là đứa con phải chịu đựng nhiều nhất, bị lạm dụng, cô như một con tốt cho người nhà; xuyên suốt diễn biến là sự đấu tranh của Lily, một là chấp nhận ở lại và chẳng còn là chính mình, hai là rời xa mẹ - điều kinh khủng.
Mình có một cảm giác điên khi đọc Bad Fruit , bà May vừa khiến mình ghê sợ vừa thương xót. Nhưng cách viết của Ella King không quá tốt, thay đổi diễn biến tệ, có quá nhiều phân đoạn dài dòng mà mình thấy chẳng liên quan và kéo dài mọi thứ.
Và trong cuốn sách này đề cập đến một bệnh tâm lý của Lily, mà về sau khiến mọi thứ càng hỗn loạn và chẳng hề được giải thích.
Một chút thất vọng vì nội dung chẳng hề "đáng lo ngại" như mình được nghe qua, mình có kỳ vọng vì cuốn sách này được so sánh với My Dark Vanessa nhưng khi đọc xong thì mình chẳng thấy vậy.
Bad Fruit lấy góc nhìn từ Lily - cô con gái vừa tròn 18 tuổi, con lai giữa mẹ là người Châu Á và bố là người Anh. Mở đầu truyện với việc bà May - mẹ của Lily đang cãi nhau với bố của Lily về việc bà nghi ngờ chồng đang ngoại tình với cô con dâu cũ. Sau đó, mình được biết về thói quen kỳ lạ của bà May, rằng bà ta muốn Lily chăm sóc, pha nước trái cây hỏng (trái cây sắp thối), thích chơi cùng gấu bông.
Bản ebook mình đọc có hơn 250 trang, phải mất hơn 100 trang mình mới hiểu được nội dung mà tác giả đang nói, hậu quả của sang chấn di truyền qua từng thế hệ y hệt The Push của Ashley Audrain. Mình bắt đầu cảm thấy tồi tệ bởi những gì bà May đã ảnh hưởng đến những đứa con của bà ta, phải nói là cực kỳ tồi tệ. Và Lily là đứa con phải chịu đựng nhiều nhất, bị lạm dụng, cô như một con tốt cho người nhà; xuyên suốt diễn biến là sự đấu tranh của Lily, một là chấp nhận ở lại và chẳng còn là chính mình, hai là rời xa mẹ - điều kinh khủng.
Mình có một cảm giác điên khi đọc Bad Fruit , bà May vừa khiến mình ghê sợ vừa thương xót. Nhưng cách viết của Ella King không quá tốt, thay đổi diễn biến tệ, có quá nhiều phân đoạn dài dòng mà mình thấy chẳng liên quan và kéo dài mọi thứ.
Và trong cuốn sách này đề cập đến một bệnh tâm lý của Lily, mà về sau khiến mọi thứ càng hỗn loạn và chẳng hề được giải thích.
January 3, 2022
Bad Fruit blew me away with its powerful and absolutely immersive look at 17-year old Lily’s life. This psychological thriller explores a complex and dark family dynamic: what do you do if the most toxic relationships in your life are with your immediate family?
We meet Lily in the summer just before she’s due to start university, she’s secured a place at Oxford – her future looks bright. She lives with her parents in Greenwich, South-East London and has two older siblings: a sister, Julia and a brother, Jacob.
On the surface, Lily’s life looks idyllic but it soon becomes clear that it’s far from that, revealed to us through her unique coping techniques, including the safe space she creates in her attic bedroom: 'Here’s where I keep me, in this hole under the floorboards.'
Lily’s relationship with her mother is the crux of Bad Fruit. Her mother exerts an unhealthy amount of control over Lily, even forcing her to wear make-up and dye her hair black to look more like her, more Chinese: 'Despite everything Mama has done to bring out the Chinese in me, I remain resolutely myself, her whitest child.'
However, the foundations of their relationship are crumbling and we’re right there with Lily as she finds out exactly why…
There are some heart-wrenching, awkward and downright weird moments between Lily and her mother that mean you are obsessed with knowing what will happen next.
During this sticky summer, Lily starts to have disturbing hallucinations or flashbacks and she has to try and work out what’s real and what’s not and if her mother has been lying about her past.
The story also sees Lily develop a friendship with an older man, Lewis, who lives near her. On paper, this is the dangerous relationship but Ella King subverts what is expected when it comes this, heightening the impact of Lily’s relationships with her family.
Another really engaging thread to this book is Lily’s interest in etymology. As a parallel to exploring her own roots, Lily’s love of the origin of language is woven throughout by giving us lovely descriptions like this: 'The Latin root for ‘hallucinate’ is irresistibly beautiful, alucinari, something you would name a Victorian child.'
I just couldn’t stop reading Bad Fruit, there were more than a few moments where my heart was in my mouth and it’s been a while since I so desperately wanted things to turn out OK for the lead character – but Lily grasped my heart.
Bad Fruit is a truly memorable debut novel. A cleverly layered story of inherited trauma, a complex and damaged family dynamic, identity, trust, growth and a young woman understanding that the hardest thing she can do might just be the thing that saves her.
Highly emotive, sometimes shocking, sometimes uplifting and with a steady and sinister sense of tension that just won’t quit. I’m excited to read more from Ella King.
We meet Lily in the summer just before she’s due to start university, she’s secured a place at Oxford – her future looks bright. She lives with her parents in Greenwich, South-East London and has two older siblings: a sister, Julia and a brother, Jacob.
On the surface, Lily’s life looks idyllic but it soon becomes clear that it’s far from that, revealed to us through her unique coping techniques, including the safe space she creates in her attic bedroom: 'Here’s where I keep me, in this hole under the floorboards.'
Lily’s relationship with her mother is the crux of Bad Fruit. Her mother exerts an unhealthy amount of control over Lily, even forcing her to wear make-up and dye her hair black to look more like her, more Chinese: 'Despite everything Mama has done to bring out the Chinese in me, I remain resolutely myself, her whitest child.'
However, the foundations of their relationship are crumbling and we’re right there with Lily as she finds out exactly why…
There are some heart-wrenching, awkward and downright weird moments between Lily and her mother that mean you are obsessed with knowing what will happen next.
During this sticky summer, Lily starts to have disturbing hallucinations or flashbacks and she has to try and work out what’s real and what’s not and if her mother has been lying about her past.
The story also sees Lily develop a friendship with an older man, Lewis, who lives near her. On paper, this is the dangerous relationship but Ella King subverts what is expected when it comes this, heightening the impact of Lily’s relationships with her family.
Another really engaging thread to this book is Lily’s interest in etymology. As a parallel to exploring her own roots, Lily’s love of the origin of language is woven throughout by giving us lovely descriptions like this: 'The Latin root for ‘hallucinate’ is irresistibly beautiful, alucinari, something you would name a Victorian child.'
I just couldn’t stop reading Bad Fruit, there were more than a few moments where my heart was in my mouth and it’s been a while since I so desperately wanted things to turn out OK for the lead character – but Lily grasped my heart.
Bad Fruit is a truly memorable debut novel. A cleverly layered story of inherited trauma, a complex and damaged family dynamic, identity, trust, growth and a young woman understanding that the hardest thing she can do might just be the thing that saves her.
Highly emotive, sometimes shocking, sometimes uplifting and with a steady and sinister sense of tension that just won’t quit. I’m excited to read more from Ella King.
October 16, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of
Bad Fruit.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this.
I saw a lot of glowing reviews which, of course, made me sus.
** Non-spoiler-y bits are ahead **
Lily is spending her summer before attending Oxford with her Singaporean mother, an emotionally abusive and manipulative woman.
Her old brother and sister have left the family home, and she has no relationship with her doormat of a father.
As the summer progresses, Lily begins to experience disturbing flashbacks that are not her own.
Whose are they and why is she having them?
Unraveling these reasons will force Lily to face devastating truths about her family, but is she ready for the heartbreak it will cause?
When a novel features abuse of any kind, whether it be sexual, emotional, psychological, I believe Very strongly there has to be a greater story behind it.
But I couldn't figure out what it was here.
Lily eventually faces up to the demons within her family, her abusive mother and co-conspirator father, her traumatized brother and sister, to break away from the past and forge ahead with her life.
Yet, I felt no connection with Lily.
I realize she doesn't have a personality after having been beaten down by her mother for so long, no identity than the one her mother created for her, which is why she's referred often as Mama's Doll.
What happened to Lily and her sibs is horrible, yet I don't blame them for continuing to remain submissive under their mother's rule.
When you've been treated as prey your whole life, that's all you know.
The father is a pathetic, despicable man who is no less abusive than his wife, as her complicit accomplice in allowing the abuse to go on.
But, what does the author want to say through this story?
That terrible people do terrible things and as long as one person gets away, then it's a win?
That awful people don't get punished? That's true.
That just because you were abused as a child it's okay to abuse others because that's how you were raised?
Let me be clear.
Being abused or having a bad childhood is NEVER an excuse for inflicting pain and suffering on others.
There are, sadly, many people who have terrible childhoods who are not abusers.
Lily finds solace in an older guy she meets at a party, a contrived relationship the author created so Lily would have a safe person, a confidant, since she has no friends to turn to for help.
I don't even remember the dude's name, which is how I felt about their relationship; it didn't click and never felt real.
The writing wasn't bad, but I thought the story would be empowering.
Instead, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth when I finished this.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this.
I saw a lot of glowing reviews which, of course, made me sus.
** Non-spoiler-y bits are ahead **
Lily is spending her summer before attending Oxford with her Singaporean mother, an emotionally abusive and manipulative woman.
Her old brother and sister have left the family home, and she has no relationship with her doormat of a father.
As the summer progresses, Lily begins to experience disturbing flashbacks that are not her own.
Whose are they and why is she having them?
Unraveling these reasons will force Lily to face devastating truths about her family, but is she ready for the heartbreak it will cause?
When a novel features abuse of any kind, whether it be sexual, emotional, psychological, I believe Very strongly there has to be a greater story behind it.
But I couldn't figure out what it was here.
Lily eventually faces up to the demons within her family, her abusive mother and co-conspirator father, her traumatized brother and sister, to break away from the past and forge ahead with her life.
Yet, I felt no connection with Lily.
I realize she doesn't have a personality after having been beaten down by her mother for so long, no identity than the one her mother created for her, which is why she's referred often as Mama's Doll.
What happened to Lily and her sibs is horrible, yet I don't blame them for continuing to remain submissive under their mother's rule.
When you've been treated as prey your whole life, that's all you know.
The father is a pathetic, despicable man who is no less abusive than his wife, as her complicit accomplice in allowing the abuse to go on.
But, what does the author want to say through this story?
That terrible people do terrible things and as long as one person gets away, then it's a win?
That awful people don't get punished? That's true.
That just because you were abused as a child it's okay to abuse others because that's how you were raised?
Let me be clear.
Being abused or having a bad childhood is NEVER an excuse for inflicting pain and suffering on others.
There are, sadly, many people who have terrible childhoods who are not abusers.
Lily finds solace in an older guy she meets at a party, a contrived relationship the author created so Lily would have a safe person, a confidant, since she has no friends to turn to for help.
I don't even remember the dude's name, which is how I felt about their relationship; it didn't click and never felt real.
The writing wasn't bad, but I thought the story would be empowering.
Instead, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth when I finished this.
June 18, 2024
3.75⭐️ woah “For fans of My Dark Vanessa and Celeste Ng”. Lily has a strange relationship with both of her parents. She struggles to form a relationship with her father and lives under the harsh criticism and behaviours of her mother, Mae. Things get worse when her Mae finds out about her husband having an affair and her crazy behaviours spiral. As things begin, Lily begins to have flashbacks that aren’t her own that help her to begin to understand who her mother really is.
Wow! I absolutely loved the toxicity portrayed within this family. It was shocking, interesting and felt somewhat relatable in terms of struggling in family relationships. This book blew my mind, left me stunned and was so beautifully written. This book had me thinking and reflecting constantly. I highly recommend this book if you want a mix of toxic mother-daughter relationships, challenges with inherited trauma, and race. This book will leave you questioning it all.
Wow! I absolutely loved the toxicity portrayed within this family. It was shocking, interesting and felt somewhat relatable in terms of struggling in family relationships. This book blew my mind, left me stunned and was so beautifully written. This book had me thinking and reflecting constantly. I highly recommend this book if you want a mix of toxic mother-daughter relationships, challenges with inherited trauma, and race. This book will leave you questioning it all.
January 8, 2022
Dark psychological thriller with plenty of twists and thrills exploring the complex, and often distorted, nature of interwoven family relationships.
July 24, 2024
Birthdays are like Christmas, all family and hugs and disaster lapping at the presents.
First of all, let me say that I love this book cover and the premise was so interesting, I wanted to love this story!
I found this book didn't have much momentum and the prose was slightly overwrought, melodramatic and at times nonsensical. Some of the choices in wording seemed a bit off, and I kept pausing because certain lines took me out of the story. (It's usually the purple similes and metaphors that rub me the wrong way). I also had a hard time understanding why anyone put up with May, and also if the cycles of abuse is supposed to make her more sympathetic? It didn't to me, abusing other people is never acceptable regardless of a traumatic childhood. Between May's volatile personality and abusive nature (and finding her high powered career pretty improbable) and Lilly's spineless and weird father, I had a hard time sticking it out. The actions of all the characters and dialogue that went with the explosive scenes felt very crazy and over the top to me, and didn't seem organic. I know I should sympathize with Lilly for trying to placate her mother and suffering for so long, but she's such a depleted husk after dealing with her mother that it's difficult. Her personality was whittled away. Her relationship with Lewis had no spark and it was so bland and random, it ended up being the most forgettable part because of the lack of chemistry.
If you find very flowery prose and dark content appealing, this may be the book for you. To me there was just too much repetitive meandering for too little payoff, and the ending felt unlikely as well.
Side note: Can we please stop comparing indie books to bestsellers with very well-known plots? It isn't doing the books they are being compared to any favors most of the time, and often ends up spoiling some of the plot points (ahem, every domestic thriller that gets compared to Gone Girl). In this case, comparing Bad Fruit to My Dark Vanessa gave me expectations that ended up being dashed, because I loved My Dark Vanessa and the relationship types were dissimilar. Let books stand on their own!
First of all, let me say that I love this book cover and the premise was so interesting, I wanted to love this story!
I found this book didn't have much momentum and the prose was slightly overwrought, melodramatic and at times nonsensical. Some of the choices in wording seemed a bit off, and I kept pausing because certain lines took me out of the story. (It's usually the purple similes and metaphors that rub me the wrong way). I also had a hard time understanding why anyone put up with May, and also if the cycles of abuse is supposed to make her more sympathetic? It didn't to me, abusing other people is never acceptable regardless of a traumatic childhood. Between May's volatile personality and abusive nature (and finding her high powered career pretty improbable) and Lilly's spineless and weird father, I had a hard time sticking it out. The actions of all the characters and dialogue that went with the explosive scenes felt very crazy and over the top to me, and didn't seem organic. I know I should sympathize with Lilly for trying to placate her mother and suffering for so long, but she's such a depleted husk after dealing with her mother that it's difficult. Her personality was whittled away. Her relationship with Lewis had no spark and it was so bland and random, it ended up being the most forgettable part because of the lack of chemistry.
If you find very flowery prose and dark content appealing, this may be the book for you. To me there was just too much repetitive meandering for too little payoff, and the ending felt unlikely as well.
Side note: Can we please stop comparing indie books to bestsellers with very well-known plots? It isn't doing the books they are being compared to any favors most of the time, and often ends up spoiling some of the plot points (ahem, every domestic thriller that gets compared to Gone Girl). In this case, comparing Bad Fruit to My Dark Vanessa gave me expectations that ended up being dashed, because I loved My Dark Vanessa and the relationship types were dissimilar. Let books stand on their own!
January 9, 2022
I have read an extensive number of psychological thrillers, and they don’t come more complex, more haunting, more disturbing, and yet so beautifully written than Bad Fruit. King’s debut novel (I’m still struggling to believe this masterpiece is a debut!) is utterly immersive. The toxicity drips off the page from the very first chapter! From the get go, you know something is a bit cray cray with this family.
It is a character driven novel at its finest. King shrouds you in intricate layers of deceit, lies, and some downright “What The Actual….?” moments as we explore the devastation of intergenerational trauma. Each family member is heartbreakingly damaged in their own way, and they all have such incredibly unhealthy symbiotic relationships. None more so than “mama’s girl, mama’s doll” Lily and her mother. My god, the mother! Let’s just take a moment to fully relish the utter volatility and dangerous nature of this woman! I mean, absolutely deranged! She brought such presence (and by presence, I mean staring a cobra directly in the face kinda presence). The way King brought her to life on the page is commendable.
Through such powerful prose, King brings a terrible sense of foreboding; through Lily’s increasing flashbacks we begin to piece together what happened in the past to cause such a devastatingly chaotic pot of simmering tension; a pot which finally just blows its lid clean off, scalding everything in its path!
As disturbing as the content of this novel was, Kings writing is an aesthetic masterpiece - a sensory feast!! Never have I read a book so dark, while so vividly colourful! The way King uses colour and food to create atmosphere and setting is downright genius. Ella King is certainly one to watch out for!
This book will resonate with me for some time and I am so grateful to Emma Pickard at Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read this and provide my personal thoughts.
It is a character driven novel at its finest. King shrouds you in intricate layers of deceit, lies, and some downright “What The Actual….?” moments as we explore the devastation of intergenerational trauma. Each family member is heartbreakingly damaged in their own way, and they all have such incredibly unhealthy symbiotic relationships. None more so than “mama’s girl, mama’s doll” Lily and her mother. My god, the mother! Let’s just take a moment to fully relish the utter volatility and dangerous nature of this woman! I mean, absolutely deranged! She brought such presence (and by presence, I mean staring a cobra directly in the face kinda presence). The way King brought her to life on the page is commendable.
Through such powerful prose, King brings a terrible sense of foreboding; through Lily’s increasing flashbacks we begin to piece together what happened in the past to cause such a devastatingly chaotic pot of simmering tension; a pot which finally just blows its lid clean off, scalding everything in its path!
As disturbing as the content of this novel was, Kings writing is an aesthetic masterpiece - a sensory feast!! Never have I read a book so dark, while so vividly colourful! The way King uses colour and food to create atmosphere and setting is downright genius. Ella King is certainly one to watch out for!
This book will resonate with me for some time and I am so grateful to Emma Pickard at Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read this and provide my personal thoughts.
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