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Seed
Seed loves you. Seed will never let you go.
Fifteen-year-old Pearl has lived her whole life protected within the small community at Seed, where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S. When some outsiders arrive, everything changes. Pearl experiences feelings that she never knew existed and begins to realise that there is darkness at the heart of Seed. A darkness from which she must escape, before it's too late.
A chilling and heartbreaking coming-of-age story of life within a cult, Seed will take readers on a journey of gripping self-discovery reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2015
About the author
Lisa Heathfield
8 books272 followersBefore becoming a mum to her three sons, Lisa Heathfield was a secondary school English teacher and loved inspiring teenagers to read.
Award-winning author Lisa Heathfield launched her career with SEED in 2015. Published by Egmont it is a stunning YA debut about a life in cult. PAPER BUTTERFLIES is her beautiful and heart-breaking second novel. FLIGHT OF A STARLING is another heart-breaking read with an important message.
Lisa lives in Brighton with her family.
Award-winning author Lisa Heathfield launched her career with SEED in 2015. Published by Egmont it is a stunning YA debut about a life in cult. PAPER BUTTERFLIES is her beautiful and heart-breaking second novel. FLIGHT OF A STARLING is another heart-breaking read with an important message.
Lisa lives in Brighton with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 500 reviews
March 11, 2015
Before reading this book get you a swear jar.
I said so many cuss words that I could fund a vacation of my dreams.
The book is told from the point of view from 15 year old Pearl. When we meet the child..YES CHILD!!! She has gotten her period and thinks she is dying. She thinks she is bleeding internally. So what happens? The put her in an underground hole. She has to somehow frigging become a woman by spending the night there.
Then when she comes out she realizes now AT 15 FRIGGING YEARS OLD that she now qualifies to be one of Papa S's "companions"
It's her only world though. You can't hate this character. She was born at the place they call Seed and loves her life there. She is surrounded by several mothers, even though she really wants to know her "real mom" and a few fuck-wad men that I have no clue what their purpose in this book was but to piss me off. They did their jobs well.
Anyways, Old Papa S decides that a new family can move into the home and that's when the new kid Ellis starts to make Pearl see that maybe the old home life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I raged at this book, but that's not a bad thing. The author did a brilliant job of showing the cult mentality and how everyone just finds it easier sometimes to just follow a lead.
It's slow at first but when things start happening you flip those pages in a hurry...and pay the jar.
I said so many cuss words that I could fund a vacation of my dreams.
The book is told from the point of view from 15 year old Pearl. When we meet the child..YES CHILD!!! She has gotten her period and thinks she is dying. She thinks she is bleeding internally. So what happens? The put her in an underground hole. She has to somehow frigging become a woman by spending the night there.
Then when she comes out she realizes now AT 15 FRIGGING YEARS OLD that she now qualifies to be one of Papa S's "companions"
It's her only world though. You can't hate this character. She was born at the place they call Seed and loves her life there. She is surrounded by several mothers, even though she really wants to know her "real mom" and a few fuck-wad men that I have no clue what their purpose in this book was but to piss me off. They did their jobs well.
Anyways, Old Papa S decides that a new family can move into the home and that's when the new kid Ellis starts to make Pearl see that maybe the old home life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I raged at this book, but that's not a bad thing. The author did a brilliant job of showing the cult mentality and how everyone just finds it easier sometimes to just follow a lead.
It's slow at first but when things start happening you flip those pages in a hurry...and pay the jar.
November 24, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“Nature made us. Nature knows us. Every movement, every thought, Nature sees.”
Hmmmm, let’s see how many people I can offend this week, shall we????
So, if this . . .
and this . . .
and this . . .
all had one wonderfully f*&^%d up baby, it might come out looking a little something like Seed.
Seed is the story of PearlDuggar - I mean, just Pearl. She lives in a utopia– a tiny community called Seed which provides everything she could ever wish for. The people who live in Seed work the land and the crops they produce provide not only nourishment for the residents, but also a surplus which is sold to “the outside” in order to purchase necessities that cannot be made inside of Seed’s confines. All of the goings on at Seed are supervised by their charismatic leader, known simply as "Papa S." At 15, Pearl has finally become a woman and now anxiously awaits the day she will become Papa S.’s newest companion . . .
But when a family from “outside” arrives – Pearl finds herself questioning everything about the lifestyle at Seed and all that she has been taught.
“How do you know what you need if you’ve never seen it?”
This little book kind of blew my socks off. I had zero expectations upon starting - Seed was offered up as a freebie and the premise sounded decent enough to give it a shot. I always try to make it a point to read as many new authors as possible (but generally there comes a point – usually WAY earlier than November – when I’ve read enough shitty first-timers and throw in the towel in order to return to familiar names). Lisa Heathfield’s first go ‘round sure didn’t disappoint, though. Seed was well written with good character development and a unique storyline. It grabbed my attention with the first paragraph and held it to the last page. I’m all for young adult books that break boundaries and open up discussion about things that happen outside of our own personal little utopias – and this one does just that. A very believable look at how easy it could be to fall into a “cult mentality” . . . especially if you never knew anything else.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
“Nature made us. Nature knows us. Every movement, every thought, Nature sees.”
Hmmmm, let’s see how many people I can offend this week, shall we????
So, if this . . .
and this . . .
and this . . .
all had one wonderfully f*&^%d up baby, it might come out looking a little something like Seed.
Seed is the story of Pearl
But when a family from “outside” arrives – Pearl finds herself questioning everything about the lifestyle at Seed and all that she has been taught.
“How do you know what you need if you’ve never seen it?”
This little book kind of blew my socks off. I had zero expectations upon starting - Seed was offered up as a freebie and the premise sounded decent enough to give it a shot. I always try to make it a point to read as many new authors as possible (but generally there comes a point – usually WAY earlier than November – when I’ve read enough shitty first-timers and throw in the towel in order to return to familiar names). Lisa Heathfield’s first go ‘round sure didn’t disappoint, though. Seed was well written with good character development and a unique storyline. It grabbed my attention with the first paragraph and held it to the last page. I’m all for young adult books that break boundaries and open up discussion about things that happen outside of our own personal little utopias – and this one does just that. A very believable look at how easy it could be to fall into a “cult mentality” . . . especially if you never knew anything else.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
May 12, 2015
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Perseus Books Group, Running Press and NetGalley.)
“Here, crouched beside the toilet, I’m terrified I’m dying. My stomach must be bleeding, or my liver, or my kidneys. Something inside me has somehow got cut. Spots of blood smear my underwear. I wipe myself with toilet paper and there’s more blood. Am I being punished for something I have said or done?”
This was a YA story about a girl living in a cult, who didn’t know enough to realise that the way she lived was weird.
I felt quite sorry for Pearl in this story, she knew so little about her own life, and didn’t even know who her mother was, and the way she was treated at times was awful. She was naïve, but it seemed quite obvious that it was because of the way she had been raised, but she maybe could have been a little more questioning about things than she was. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her that she didn’t even know to expect her period, and thought that she was dying!
“Are you trying to heal me?” I whisper. And she smiles.
“You don’t need healing. You’re not dying, Pearl. You are fifteen years old and you’re changing from a child to a woman.”
The storyline in this followed Pearl as she lived at the cult, and as a new family moved in, along with a teenage son Ellis. It seemed like Pearl was discovering feelings for Ellis, but at the same time she was also being punished for bad behaviour, and dissuaded from these ‘wrong’ thoughts. Some of the things that went on in Seed were really bad though, and the ‘accidents’ that kept happening were really not nice.
“Your precious Kindred John. Those were Ellis’s words.
It wasn’t an accident.”
The ending to this was okay, but it did leave me questioning whether there would be another book about Pearl in the future, as the ending of this was quite open.
6.5 out of 10
“Here, crouched beside the toilet, I’m terrified I’m dying. My stomach must be bleeding, or my liver, or my kidneys. Something inside me has somehow got cut. Spots of blood smear my underwear. I wipe myself with toilet paper and there’s more blood. Am I being punished for something I have said or done?”
This was a YA story about a girl living in a cult, who didn’t know enough to realise that the way she lived was weird.
I felt quite sorry for Pearl in this story, she knew so little about her own life, and didn’t even know who her mother was, and the way she was treated at times was awful. She was naïve, but it seemed quite obvious that it was because of the way she had been raised, but she maybe could have been a little more questioning about things than she was. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her that she didn’t even know to expect her period, and thought that she was dying!
“Are you trying to heal me?” I whisper. And she smiles.
“You don’t need healing. You’re not dying, Pearl. You are fifteen years old and you’re changing from a child to a woman.”
The storyline in this followed Pearl as she lived at the cult, and as a new family moved in, along with a teenage son Ellis. It seemed like Pearl was discovering feelings for Ellis, but at the same time she was also being punished for bad behaviour, and dissuaded from these ‘wrong’ thoughts. Some of the things that went on in Seed were really bad though, and the ‘accidents’ that kept happening were really not nice.
“Your precious Kindred John. Those were Ellis’s words.
It wasn’t an accident.”
The ending to this was okay, but it did leave me questioning whether there would be another book about Pearl in the future, as the ending of this was quite open.
6.5 out of 10
July 4, 2017
5 Words: cult, love, nature, family, escape.
I loved this book and could not put it down. It was challenging and different and I loved the perspective from which it was told.
It did make for some uncomfortable reading, but that's what was so good about it. It was pretty astonishing.
I wasn't sure of the setting... Where was Seed? In the UK? In the US? I was a little confused but I think I've settled on the UK as the country.
I loved Pearl and how slowly realisations dawned on her, how reluctant she was to accept what was happening right in front of her. She was confused and torn and lost and by the end she'd started following those breadcrumbs to find herself.
And that end was something else. It was breath-taking and heart-breaking.
And now I find it's going to be a series and I feel a little disappointed. I think this story has more strength as a standalone.
ETA: Looks like it's maybe not going to be a series now, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. Although I'm quite content in imagining Pearl having a HAE part of me wants her story to continue.
I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes.
I loved this book and could not put it down. It was challenging and different and I loved the perspective from which it was told.
It did make for some uncomfortable reading, but that's what was so good about it. It was pretty astonishing.
I wasn't sure of the setting... Where was Seed? In the UK? In the US? I was a little confused but I think I've settled on the UK as the country.
I loved Pearl and how slowly realisations dawned on her, how reluctant she was to accept what was happening right in front of her. She was confused and torn and lost and by the end she'd started following those breadcrumbs to find herself.
And that end was something else. It was breath-taking and heart-breaking.
And now I find it's going to be a series and I feel a little disappointed. I think this story has more strength as a standalone.
ETA: Looks like it's maybe not going to be a series now, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. Although I'm quite content in imagining Pearl having a HAE part of me wants her story to continue.
I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes.
April 3, 2015
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Seed is an isolated community where 15 year old Pearl has lived her whole life. She knows nothing but the large family around her, working the fields for produce and accepting without question the judgement and wisdom of Papa S, the leader of the group.
When new members are accepted into the community Pearl is forced to start viewing Seed in a much different light, one that starts to see it not as a utopian paradise but as something more sinister and controlling.
The story is told through the innocent, naïve voice of Pearl who has just officially become a woman, experiencing her first period and wanting Papa S to start noticing her, hoping he will choose her to be his 'companion'. Although at times I found Pearl a bit frustrating I loved the voice that the author gave her, she made her very real and someone that I quickly became fully invested in, wanting her to see who Papa S really was and how wrong some of the things at Seed were. Ellis is one of the new arrivals and he is somewhat exasperated with some of their beliefs, although he appreciates the healing affect the community has on his mother. He senses the wrongness of the place and begins to challenge Pearl on some of their teachings and he is critical of the relationships that reside in Seed and their appropriateness. Ellis was a slightly more inconsistent character but still one that I loved.
This at times was quite an upsetting read, the themes of cultism and child abuse will make some readers uncomfortable but I thought the author handled the subject matter really well. The abuse is handled fairly delicately with the sexual abuse never being pushed into the readers face but heavily insinuated through the older male members relationships with the much younger, and possibly underage, females. A scene with Pearl and Papa S as he chooses her to be his 'companion' made my skin crawl as he tried to justify what he was about to do. The blind acceptance of his decision making was also extremely disturbing, even Pearl, when she discovers how much has been taken from her, doesn't want to upset the way of life at Seed. She wants everything to be how it was but tragic events make that impossible and once the veil is lifted there is no going back.
The pacing for me was spot on, everything was revealed slowly helping to build the tension and develop a feeling of dread that there will be no happy ending to this tale. I found that once I really got into this book I couldn't stop until it was finished, which is rare for me.
It's hard to believe this is the author's first novel, I hope it's a success as I'd love to see what she comes out with next.
Highly recommended.
Seed is an isolated community where 15 year old Pearl has lived her whole life. She knows nothing but the large family around her, working the fields for produce and accepting without question the judgement and wisdom of Papa S, the leader of the group.
When new members are accepted into the community Pearl is forced to start viewing Seed in a much different light, one that starts to see it not as a utopian paradise but as something more sinister and controlling.
The story is told through the innocent, naïve voice of Pearl who has just officially become a woman, experiencing her first period and wanting Papa S to start noticing her, hoping he will choose her to be his 'companion'. Although at times I found Pearl a bit frustrating I loved the voice that the author gave her, she made her very real and someone that I quickly became fully invested in, wanting her to see who Papa S really was and how wrong some of the things at Seed were. Ellis is one of the new arrivals and he is somewhat exasperated with some of their beliefs, although he appreciates the healing affect the community has on his mother. He senses the wrongness of the place and begins to challenge Pearl on some of their teachings and he is critical of the relationships that reside in Seed and their appropriateness. Ellis was a slightly more inconsistent character but still one that I loved.
This at times was quite an upsetting read, the themes of cultism and child abuse will make some readers uncomfortable but I thought the author handled the subject matter really well. The abuse is handled fairly delicately with the sexual abuse never being pushed into the readers face but heavily insinuated through the older male members relationships with the much younger, and possibly underage, females. A scene with Pearl and Papa S as he chooses her to be his 'companion' made my skin crawl as he tried to justify what he was about to do. The blind acceptance of his decision making was also extremely disturbing, even Pearl, when she discovers how much has been taken from her, doesn't want to upset the way of life at Seed. She wants everything to be how it was but tragic events make that impossible and once the veil is lifted there is no going back.
The pacing for me was spot on, everything was revealed slowly helping to build the tension and develop a feeling of dread that there will be no happy ending to this tale. I found that once I really got into this book I couldn't stop until it was finished, which is rare for me.
It's hard to believe this is the author's first novel, I hope it's a success as I'd love to see what she comes out with next.
Highly recommended.
January 24, 2018
This was a quick suspenseful read.
As for content:
I remember one bad word, and the main character is almost raped. It also deals with a cultish situation, so that is rightfully creepy.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it hooked me from start to finish.
As for content:
I remember one bad word, and the main character is almost raped. It also deals with a cultish situation, so that is rightfully creepy.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it hooked me from start to finish.
May 24, 2016
Well, I'm not getting any sleep tonight! This book was so unsettling yet strangely addictive.
December 31, 2015
Also reviewed on Sophie Reads YA
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This is no way impacted in my view.
Wow, wow, wow! This book was utterly incredible! Unlike anything I've ever read before, and I'm so glad there is going to be a sequel.
Seed tells the story of Pearl, a fifteen year old teenager, who has lived in Seed her entire life. She has no knowledge of the outside world, except for some scary impressions that the 'Outsiders' are all corrupt, evil, and poison. Seed revolves around Mother Nature, and the teachings of Papa S, through whom Nature's message is spread. All of the inhabitants of Seed are a 'family', no one knows who their actual parents are, and once a girl becomes a woman, she is ready to become a Companion of Papa S.
All of the characters in Seed were fantastic in their own ways. I hated the elder men (Papa S, Kindred Smith, Kindred John), and adored the younger characters, though Elizabeth was also a particular favourite of mine. I loved Pearl as the main protagonist, you could really hear her naïvety in her voice, and her questioning the whole situation once Outsiders came in. Pearl grew as a character, as a person, throughout the entire novel, and I can't wait to see how she deals with the position she is in at the end of Seed. The secondary characters, and especially Kate, really supported Pearl in her growth, and protected her throughout the uncomfortable events in the book.
Though the romance in the novel was, technically, non-existent, I found parts of it very sweet, and lovely. I also felt as if the romance played a major role in Pearl questioning her environment, not in a insta-love, nothing else matters, scenario, but rather in making her think about what life is really like, and whether on not the life she has been living is a complete sham.
As I said earlier, I'm extremely happy that there will be a sequel to Seed, as the ending of the book was abrupt, and a total cliffhanger. Lisa Heathfield's writing style was beautiful, and for this to be a debut novel is surprising, I would actually have thought this was a book from a seasoned author if I didn't know otherwise. As soon as the sequel is announced properly, I'll definitely be waiting to get my hands on it.
Overall, a truly remarkable debut UKYA novel, and one I would definitely recommend!
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This is no way impacted in my view.
Wow, wow, wow! This book was utterly incredible! Unlike anything I've ever read before, and I'm so glad there is going to be a sequel.
Seed tells the story of Pearl, a fifteen year old teenager, who has lived in Seed her entire life. She has no knowledge of the outside world, except for some scary impressions that the 'Outsiders' are all corrupt, evil, and poison. Seed revolves around Mother Nature, and the teachings of Papa S, through whom Nature's message is spread. All of the inhabitants of Seed are a 'family', no one knows who their actual parents are, and once a girl becomes a woman, she is ready to become a Companion of Papa S.
All of the characters in Seed were fantastic in their own ways. I hated the elder men (Papa S, Kindred Smith, Kindred John), and adored the younger characters, though Elizabeth was also a particular favourite of mine. I loved Pearl as the main protagonist, you could really hear her naïvety in her voice, and her questioning the whole situation once Outsiders came in. Pearl grew as a character, as a person, throughout the entire novel, and I can't wait to see how she deals with the position she is in at the end of Seed. The secondary characters, and especially Kate, really supported Pearl in her growth, and protected her throughout the uncomfortable events in the book.
Though the romance in the novel was, technically, non-existent, I found parts of it very sweet, and lovely. I also felt as if the romance played a major role in Pearl questioning her environment, not in a insta-love, nothing else matters, scenario, but rather in making her think about what life is really like, and whether on not the life she has been living is a complete sham.
As I said earlier, I'm extremely happy that there will be a sequel to Seed, as the ending of the book was abrupt, and a total cliffhanger. Lisa Heathfield's writing style was beautiful, and for this to be a debut novel is surprising, I would actually have thought this was a book from a seasoned author if I didn't know otherwise. As soon as the sequel is announced properly, I'll definitely be waiting to get my hands on it.
Overall, a truly remarkable debut UKYA novel, and one I would definitely recommend!
August 10, 2015
So...I finally finished this book. Holy moly. Thank you to my friend Shelby for introducing me to this book. You can read her review here.
This is a story about a young girl, Pearl, just becoming a woman and living on a commune, Right away you can see the potential problem. Pearl has grown up on the commune and loves it there. She and her "family" worship nature and follow their leader, Papa S, without question. Then, a teenaged boy, Ellis, comes with his mother and little sister to live with them. Ellis did not grow up at Seed. He comes from the Outside. This is when everything starts to change.
This book was so interesting to read. I could understand how people would be torn between their deep-rooted beliefs and what they are shown to be real. I was so angry at Papa S and the Kindreds for what they put their family (AKA followers) through. I wanted to reach into the book and shake people, hit people, and most of all protect people.
Great story that I would recommend to anyone with a swear jar at the ready. I'm buying something big with mine. ;)
4.5★
This is a story about a young girl, Pearl, just becoming a woman and living on a commune, Right away you can see the potential problem. Pearl has grown up on the commune and loves it there. She and her "family" worship nature and follow their leader, Papa S, without question. Then, a teenaged boy, Ellis, comes with his mother and little sister to live with them. Ellis did not grow up at Seed. He comes from the Outside. This is when everything starts to change.
This book was so interesting to read. I could understand how people would be torn between their deep-rooted beliefs and what they are shown to be real. I was so angry at Papa S and the Kindreds for what they put their family (AKA followers) through. I wanted to reach into the book and shake people, hit people, and most of all protect people.
Great story that I would recommend to anyone with a swear jar at the ready. I'm buying something big with mine. ;)
4.5★
October 31, 2015
This review was originally posted on www.talesofyesterday.co.uk
It's taken me a little longer than normal to write this review! The reason? I fell in love with this book from the minute I started reading it right through to the heart stopping end! This meant that my review may have just contained the words READ THIS BOOK NOW or I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH (which is what I have been telling everyone on twitter) rather than a review so I have taken some time to compose some hopefully thoughtful constructive words that hopefully may do this wonderful book the tiny bit of justice it fully deserves!
*Gulps and takes big breath*
But first lets admire the beauty and prettiness of this book cover! Its so pretty! *claps excitedly and bows down to @hungrymarv for designing this cover*
Now we may begin....
Seed is a story about a girl called Pearl who was born into and has only ever known the community of Seed. Seed worship nature, are a family and look after each other. They are a community. They live in the Seed world looked after by mother nature. They do not know the outside world. Seed have a hierarchy of Kindred's who Pearl and the others look up to. They idolise the leader of Seed, Papa S.
Seed is the story of life lived in a cult.
When Pearl comes of age will it now be her turn to become the companion of Papa S something she has longed for a long time? But when Ellis, his mom and his younger sister Sophie arrive from the outside world to join Seed Pearl begins to realise that all may not be a safe haven at Seed and everything she has grown up to believe in may all come crashing down. But Pearl struggles to believe that Seed is something other than what she loves. Papa S and the kindred's love her and will protect her right? Seed is her home. Seed loves her. Seed will never let her go!
This book is hauntingly beautiful and deals with such sensitive and often rather unnerving subjects and situations.
The book is told from Pearl's perspective and begins with Pearl coming of age. A scary time for Pearl as she has no idea what is happening to her and her body. She believes this is mother nature punishing her and is immediately put through a ritual of being shut in a dark hole for the night as Seed believes, as well as Pearl, that this will make her a woman and she will be able to bear children. This immediately gives you the setting and feel for the book and the character of Pearl as I felt as a reader I was completely drawn into the book and immediately quite protective over Pearl and fully drawn into the community of Seed.
Pearl is an adorable, innocent character who I wanted to protect and whilst she comes across as slightly naïve at times as a reader you have to remember that this is what she has been born into. She does not know who her mother is as the women at Seed only birth the children and cannot take that child to be solely theirs. She knows nothing else, yearns to know who her real mother is but at the same time refuses to believe anything else exists outside of Seed. Pearl sees the good in everyone even when times get tough. Pearl believes you should listen only to mother nature...she will save you. She looks after the younger children and I found it adorable that coming of age to Pearl meant she could grow her hair long and wear unpattern skirts (all patterns are false unless created by nature) a sure sign that she is a woman to Papa S *shivers* More on Papa S later!
Pearl is friends with and has grown up within Seed with curious Kate, who as she has come of age starts to have questions about the community she has been brought up, and growing up quickly to be a man Jack. What I loved about Kate was that she senses something is not right and is not happy in the community of Seed anymore and feels like there must be more. With this comes a slight sense of rebellion, but then this is reigned in and controlled by the Kindred's and as Kate and Pearl experience there are severe punishments afoot for anyone questioning the community and having unclean thoughts against mother nature. There is a heart stopping scene when Pearl is put in the forgiveness room for such thoughts which made me fearful and turn the pages faster, but shows the controlling ways of certain aspects of Seed!
One of the Kindred's, Kindred John, invites a family into the community of Seed to "help" them through a tough time in their lives. With this family piano player Ellis arrives and immediately strikes up a friendship with Pearl, Kate and Jack. I loved Ellis as a character! Just loved him! I loved the way he goes along with things for his Mom's sake, his protectiveness of his little sister Sophie and his realisation about what is going on in Seed is a revelation. He's experienced the world outside of Seed and he knows right from wrong where at Pearl, Kate and Jack only know the community they have grown up in and as far as they are concerned this is the correct way to live and be happy. Ellis throws everything up in the air asking the question how do you know what you need if you have never seen it?
Once particular scene I loved with the four friends is when they get caught in the rain, take off their clothes and dance in a circle. This scene is beautifully written and shows the innocence of these children and the simplicity of wanting to just be children and laugh and play. It shows how strong their friendship is in a single scene. They are unbreakable. I also love the way Pearl falls in love with Ellis's music when he plays the piano...it's like nothing she has ever heard before and provides one of my favourite quotes from the book.
"It feels like I am underwater at the lake, yet floating through the sky. There a thousand butterflies dancing on my skin"
For me Lisa Heathfield has created one of the most hated controlling characters I think I have ever read! In every part of the book that Papa S, the leader of Seed, is present in it creeped me out. His presence is so masterful and so superior that I feared every page when he appeared where as Pearl looks up to him and idolises him, but at the same times fears him knowing about anything she shouldn't be doing or any unclean thoughts about Seed. As the story plays out it is evident what Papa S intentions are, but whilst this is done quite evidently with Papa S picking a new companion when he chooses, who then has to walk by his side with a flower carefully placed between their lips to indicate the companionship, anything further implied is done off the page but as a reader you get enough sense of what is going on to work out he is a horrid man! This is obviously exactly what Lisa Heathfield set out to achieve and shows how clever her writing really is as I felt so protective over Pearl and the other children that I hated him and his manipulative ways with a passion and rightly so. What Lisa creates with Papa S, without it being played out onto the page but more behind the scenes so to speak, is a villain who as a reader you will despise and if you are anything like me shout at the book a million times for Pearl and the others to not want to be his companion and to escape Seed forever!
I don't want to go into any more for fear of spoiling this precious gem of a book. For me I was unable to put this book down. This was again due to the writing, the way I felt about the characters and the perfect pacing. I think I even cried when I had to go to the shops as this book was glued to my hands. Seed captured me and my imagination completely. Seed did not want to let me go. I had to make sure Pearl was okay! Surely the sign of a fab book! And the end .....OMG!
Lisa Heathfield's writing is stunning and beautiful in such a tender way. Every sentence is enriched with so much care and imaginative description that you fall in love with it. This is Lisa's debut! A debut! I cannot believe this is a debut book. It's inspiring. I love Lisa's writing style and this book so much that I am so excited about what is to come next from this wonderful debut author! I for one cannot wait!
I want to finish this review with a quote from the book that for me highlights the beautiful writing style of Lisa Heathfield, the innocence of Pearl and the controlling ways of Papa S and the hold Seed has on Pearl....just beautiful and I feel this sums up the book really well...
"I always have the same feeling when we drive from Seed to market. It's as though a thin blue thread attaches me to my home. It winds through the lanes, past the hills and houses, a thread that will never break and will always keep me safe. If I am lost I can always follow it back again, to Papa S. And attached to it, he will always be able to find me."
I urge everyone to read this book and experience it's beauty...my words do not do this book justice...go and experience Seed for yourselves...it will stay with you long after reading....it will never let you go!
For more reviews and more please visit www.talesofyesterday.co.uk
It's taken me a little longer than normal to write this review! The reason? I fell in love with this book from the minute I started reading it right through to the heart stopping end! This meant that my review may have just contained the words READ THIS BOOK NOW or I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH (which is what I have been telling everyone on twitter) rather than a review so I have taken some time to compose some hopefully thoughtful constructive words that hopefully may do this wonderful book the tiny bit of justice it fully deserves!
*Gulps and takes big breath*
But first lets admire the beauty and prettiness of this book cover! Its so pretty! *claps excitedly and bows down to @hungrymarv for designing this cover*
Now we may begin....
Seed is a story about a girl called Pearl who was born into and has only ever known the community of Seed. Seed worship nature, are a family and look after each other. They are a community. They live in the Seed world looked after by mother nature. They do not know the outside world. Seed have a hierarchy of Kindred's who Pearl and the others look up to. They idolise the leader of Seed, Papa S.
Seed is the story of life lived in a cult.
When Pearl comes of age will it now be her turn to become the companion of Papa S something she has longed for a long time? But when Ellis, his mom and his younger sister Sophie arrive from the outside world to join Seed Pearl begins to realise that all may not be a safe haven at Seed and everything she has grown up to believe in may all come crashing down. But Pearl struggles to believe that Seed is something other than what she loves. Papa S and the kindred's love her and will protect her right? Seed is her home. Seed loves her. Seed will never let her go!
This book is hauntingly beautiful and deals with such sensitive and often rather unnerving subjects and situations.
The book is told from Pearl's perspective and begins with Pearl coming of age. A scary time for Pearl as she has no idea what is happening to her and her body. She believes this is mother nature punishing her and is immediately put through a ritual of being shut in a dark hole for the night as Seed believes, as well as Pearl, that this will make her a woman and she will be able to bear children. This immediately gives you the setting and feel for the book and the character of Pearl as I felt as a reader I was completely drawn into the book and immediately quite protective over Pearl and fully drawn into the community of Seed.
Pearl is an adorable, innocent character who I wanted to protect and whilst she comes across as slightly naïve at times as a reader you have to remember that this is what she has been born into. She does not know who her mother is as the women at Seed only birth the children and cannot take that child to be solely theirs. She knows nothing else, yearns to know who her real mother is but at the same time refuses to believe anything else exists outside of Seed. Pearl sees the good in everyone even when times get tough. Pearl believes you should listen only to mother nature...she will save you. She looks after the younger children and I found it adorable that coming of age to Pearl meant she could grow her hair long and wear unpattern skirts (all patterns are false unless created by nature) a sure sign that she is a woman to Papa S *shivers* More on Papa S later!
Pearl is friends with and has grown up within Seed with curious Kate, who as she has come of age starts to have questions about the community she has been brought up, and growing up quickly to be a man Jack. What I loved about Kate was that she senses something is not right and is not happy in the community of Seed anymore and feels like there must be more. With this comes a slight sense of rebellion, but then this is reigned in and controlled by the Kindred's and as Kate and Pearl experience there are severe punishments afoot for anyone questioning the community and having unclean thoughts against mother nature. There is a heart stopping scene when Pearl is put in the forgiveness room for such thoughts which made me fearful and turn the pages faster, but shows the controlling ways of certain aspects of Seed!
One of the Kindred's, Kindred John, invites a family into the community of Seed to "help" them through a tough time in their lives. With this family piano player Ellis arrives and immediately strikes up a friendship with Pearl, Kate and Jack. I loved Ellis as a character! Just loved him! I loved the way he goes along with things for his Mom's sake, his protectiveness of his little sister Sophie and his realisation about what is going on in Seed is a revelation. He's experienced the world outside of Seed and he knows right from wrong where at Pearl, Kate and Jack only know the community they have grown up in and as far as they are concerned this is the correct way to live and be happy. Ellis throws everything up in the air asking the question how do you know what you need if you have never seen it?
Once particular scene I loved with the four friends is when they get caught in the rain, take off their clothes and dance in a circle. This scene is beautifully written and shows the innocence of these children and the simplicity of wanting to just be children and laugh and play. It shows how strong their friendship is in a single scene. They are unbreakable. I also love the way Pearl falls in love with Ellis's music when he plays the piano...it's like nothing she has ever heard before and provides one of my favourite quotes from the book.
"It feels like I am underwater at the lake, yet floating through the sky. There a thousand butterflies dancing on my skin"
For me Lisa Heathfield has created one of the most hated controlling characters I think I have ever read! In every part of the book that Papa S, the leader of Seed, is present in it creeped me out. His presence is so masterful and so superior that I feared every page when he appeared where as Pearl looks up to him and idolises him, but at the same times fears him knowing about anything she shouldn't be doing or any unclean thoughts about Seed. As the story plays out it is evident what Papa S intentions are, but whilst this is done quite evidently with Papa S picking a new companion when he chooses, who then has to walk by his side with a flower carefully placed between their lips to indicate the companionship, anything further implied is done off the page but as a reader you get enough sense of what is going on to work out he is a horrid man! This is obviously exactly what Lisa Heathfield set out to achieve and shows how clever her writing really is as I felt so protective over Pearl and the other children that I hated him and his manipulative ways with a passion and rightly so. What Lisa creates with Papa S, without it being played out onto the page but more behind the scenes so to speak, is a villain who as a reader you will despise and if you are anything like me shout at the book a million times for Pearl and the others to not want to be his companion and to escape Seed forever!
I don't want to go into any more for fear of spoiling this precious gem of a book. For me I was unable to put this book down. This was again due to the writing, the way I felt about the characters and the perfect pacing. I think I even cried when I had to go to the shops as this book was glued to my hands. Seed captured me and my imagination completely. Seed did not want to let me go. I had to make sure Pearl was okay! Surely the sign of a fab book! And the end .....OMG!
Lisa Heathfield's writing is stunning and beautiful in such a tender way. Every sentence is enriched with so much care and imaginative description that you fall in love with it. This is Lisa's debut! A debut! I cannot believe this is a debut book. It's inspiring. I love Lisa's writing style and this book so much that I am so excited about what is to come next from this wonderful debut author! I for one cannot wait!
I want to finish this review with a quote from the book that for me highlights the beautiful writing style of Lisa Heathfield, the innocence of Pearl and the controlling ways of Papa S and the hold Seed has on Pearl....just beautiful and I feel this sums up the book really well...
"I always have the same feeling when we drive from Seed to market. It's as though a thin blue thread attaches me to my home. It winds through the lanes, past the hills and houses, a thread that will never break and will always keep me safe. If I am lost I can always follow it back again, to Papa S. And attached to it, he will always be able to find me."
I urge everyone to read this book and experience it's beauty...my words do not do this book justice...go and experience Seed for yourselves...it will stay with you long after reading....it will never let you go!
For more reviews and more please visit www.talesofyesterday.co.uk
February 18, 2018
3 Sterne!
Auf dieses Buch hatte ich mich sehr gefreut, da ich erst wenig aus dem Sekten-Bereich gelesen habe und mir daher eine spannende, kurzweilige Geschichte ausgemalt hatte.
Leider konnte mich das Buch aber doch nicht so fesseln, wie ich dachte.
Saat und die dort lebende Gemeinschaft haben mich gleichermaßen fasziniert und verstört, doch diese abstruse Mischung macht definitiv den Reiz des Buches aus. Es zeigt in hohem Maße, welche Macht unser Weltbild und unser Wissen über uns haben und wie schwierig es ist, all das infrage zu stellen, was man von Kindesbeinen an gelernt hat. Zudem passt der deutsche Titel wirklich wie die Faust auf's Auge!
Der Rest des Buches war allerdings in meinen Augen nur mittelmäßig. Spannung kam nur sehr, sehr langsam auf und wurde dann noch zusätzlich durch den Umstand gemildert, dass man leicht voraussehen konnte, worauf die Geschichte hinauslaufen wird. All das wurde einem in einem mittelmäßigen Schreibstil präsentiert, wobei ich allerdings keine Aussagen über die Originalversion treffen kann.
Am bedauerlichsten war aber, dass ich zu keinem der Charaktere eine emotionale Bindung aufbauen konnte. Mag sein, dass es auf ihre Lebensumstände zuruckzuführen ist, aber sie wirkten alle weichgespült und sehr einheitlich. Die Autorin hat mir einfach nicht genug geliefert, woraus ich mir eine Meinung hätte bilden können - da gab es keien Ecken oder Kanten, keine besonderen Eigenarten oder sonstige interessante Charakteristika.
Daher kann ich das Buch nur denen empfehlen, die sich nicht an den oben genannten Punkten stören.
Auf dieses Buch hatte ich mich sehr gefreut, da ich erst wenig aus dem Sekten-Bereich gelesen habe und mir daher eine spannende, kurzweilige Geschichte ausgemalt hatte.
Leider konnte mich das Buch aber doch nicht so fesseln, wie ich dachte.
Saat und die dort lebende Gemeinschaft haben mich gleichermaßen fasziniert und verstört, doch diese abstruse Mischung macht definitiv den Reiz des Buches aus. Es zeigt in hohem Maße, welche Macht unser Weltbild und unser Wissen über uns haben und wie schwierig es ist, all das infrage zu stellen, was man von Kindesbeinen an gelernt hat. Zudem passt der deutsche Titel wirklich wie die Faust auf's Auge!
Der Rest des Buches war allerdings in meinen Augen nur mittelmäßig. Spannung kam nur sehr, sehr langsam auf und wurde dann noch zusätzlich durch den Umstand gemildert, dass man leicht voraussehen konnte, worauf die Geschichte hinauslaufen wird. All das wurde einem in einem mittelmäßigen Schreibstil präsentiert, wobei ich allerdings keine Aussagen über die Originalversion treffen kann.
Am bedauerlichsten war aber, dass ich zu keinem der Charaktere eine emotionale Bindung aufbauen konnte. Mag sein, dass es auf ihre Lebensumstände zuruckzuführen ist, aber sie wirkten alle weichgespült und sehr einheitlich. Die Autorin hat mir einfach nicht genug geliefert, woraus ich mir eine Meinung hätte bilden können - da gab es keien Ecken oder Kanten, keine besonderen Eigenarten oder sonstige interessante Charakteristika.
Daher kann ich das Buch nur denen empfehlen, die sich nicht an den oben genannten Punkten stören.
September 26, 2018
”’Nature, we thank you for leading Papa S. to Seed. He saved us. He protects us. In return, we give you everything… Because we need nothing more. We have Kindreds to guide us, we have food, we have love. We listen to you, Mother Nature, only you.’”
Welcome to life in the Seed; a seemingly idyllic community that worships Nature. This is all fifteen-year-old Pearl has ever known. Everything she wants, Papa S. and Nature will provide. All the good and bad things in life are due to Nature and Her bountiful gifts. Pearl adores Papa S. and is more than excited when the time comes for her to become his potential Companion. She wants nothing but to please Papa S. All this changes with the arrival of a new family to the Seed. One of these new arrivals is Ellis, a handsome and charismatic young man. He starts to question life inside the Seed compound, and soon these questions start to trickle down to Pearl and her friends. As much as Pearl doesn’t want to believe the things Ellis is saying, a small part of her starts to wonder if everything that Papa S. says is a lie. Will the Seed protect them? Will Nature hear them? And is the outside world as scary as he makes it out to be?
Another reviewer described it perfectly as saying that this book would be the end result if The Duggars, Scientology, FLDS and Jonestown came together and had a love child. After reading this book, I had a seriously icky feeling inside. Not an icky feeling because there was a lot of blood and gore and all that, but that icky feeling you get when there’s this one person that seriously creeps you out. Yeah, THAT kind of icky feeling. As the book went along, the book became more and more terrifying until it’s explosive and gut wrenching conclusion.
Pearl is what some would call a true believer. No matter how hard someone can try to convince her that Papa S is certifiably a nutso, she refuses to believe this. And yet her naiveté makes you feel all the more sorry for her and her situation. I mean, this is the poor girl who, when she gets her first menstrual period, gets locked up in a cellar to “cleanse her soul.”
Papa S is one of those people that aren’t outwardly terrifying when you first meet him. But as you get to know him, he becomes a truly frightening individual. He doesn’t resort to physical violence to accomplish this. Oh no, he’s too good for that. He uses mind control, and my oh my, he does this so well. He could play a tape recording of a person screaming and have you absolutely convinced that it’s your soul instead.
Ellis is a boy that moves with his family to the Seed. At first, he’s cautiously optimistic about his new surroundings, especially after meeting Pearl. But he soon gets the big picture pretty quickly that this place is less then the idyllic community Papa S and his mother made it out to be. The only problem with Ellis is that he was kind of wishy washy. You never quite knew which side he was firmly on until the very end of the novel. There also wasn’t anything particularly special about him, other than the fact that he was the one who planted the seeds (no pun intended) for Pearl and her friends to question Papa S.
Pearl doesn’t believe that Papa S. and the Seed are full of lies until the very last minute. Literally. She thinks that everything that comes out of his mouth is true, even when the statements are so ridiculous they’re laughable.
I also figured out quite early on whom the person doing the second narration was, so that was kind of disappointing. But the author did such a good job switching back and forth from different POV’s that I wasn’t too upset with it.
Conclusion:
Welcome to life in the Seed; a seemingly idyllic community that worships Nature. This is all fifteen-year-old Pearl has ever known. Everything she wants, Papa S. and Nature will provide. All the good and bad things in life are due to Nature and Her bountiful gifts. Pearl adores Papa S. and is more than excited when the time comes for her to become his potential Companion. She wants nothing but to please Papa S. All this changes with the arrival of a new family to the Seed. One of these new arrivals is Ellis, a handsome and charismatic young man. He starts to question life inside the Seed compound, and soon these questions start to trickle down to Pearl and her friends. As much as Pearl doesn’t want to believe the things Ellis is saying, a small part of her starts to wonder if everything that Papa S. says is a lie. Will the Seed protect them? Will Nature hear them? And is the outside world as scary as he makes it out to be?
Another reviewer described it perfectly as saying that this book would be the end result if The Duggars, Scientology, FLDS and Jonestown came together and had a love child. After reading this book, I had a seriously icky feeling inside. Not an icky feeling because there was a lot of blood and gore and all that, but that icky feeling you get when there’s this one person that seriously creeps you out. Yeah, THAT kind of icky feeling. As the book went along, the book became more and more terrifying until it’s explosive and gut wrenching conclusion.
Pearl is what some would call a true believer. No matter how hard someone can try to convince her that Papa S is certifiably a nutso, she refuses to believe this. And yet her naiveté makes you feel all the more sorry for her and her situation. I mean, this is the poor girl who, when she gets her first menstrual period, gets locked up in a cellar to “cleanse her soul.”
Papa S is one of those people that aren’t outwardly terrifying when you first meet him. But as you get to know him, he becomes a truly frightening individual. He doesn’t resort to physical violence to accomplish this. Oh no, he’s too good for that. He uses mind control, and my oh my, he does this so well. He could play a tape recording of a person screaming and have you absolutely convinced that it’s your soul instead.
”’These screams come from your bones. This time it was Nature calling you, because you have displeased her.’”He could tell you that the moon was made of spinach and you’d totally believe him. And even if you don’t, he’d have you so scared shitless you’d have no choice BUT to believe him.
”’Mother Nature told me that they would do it,’ Papa S. continues. ‘She has been watching you. They have been watching you.’.”How she managed to conceive such a brilliant character is a measure of her talent.
Ellis is a boy that moves with his family to the Seed. At first, he’s cautiously optimistic about his new surroundings, especially after meeting Pearl. But he soon gets the big picture pretty quickly that this place is less then the idyllic community Papa S and his mother made it out to be. The only problem with Ellis is that he was kind of wishy washy. You never quite knew which side he was firmly on until the very end of the novel. There also wasn’t anything particularly special about him, other than the fact that he was the one who planted the seeds (no pun intended) for Pearl and her friends to question Papa S.
Pearl doesn’t believe that Papa S. and the Seed are full of lies until the very last minute. Literally. She thinks that everything that comes out of his mouth is true, even when the statements are so ridiculous they’re laughable.
”’You can’t eat honey like this,’ I explain. ‘If you do, the eggs will hatch inside you and bees will fill your stomach.’ Ellis looks shocked. So he didn’t know. ‘They will crawl up your breathing pipes. They sting you on the way up, and they sting inside your mouth before they swarm out.’”But coming from the perspective of that this is the only thing she knows, it becomes understandable. It all is a testament to how strong of a hold Papa S. has on poor Pearl and the followers of the Seed. For a less understanding person, this may be a bit hard to understand.
I also figured out quite early on whom the person doing the second narration was, so that was kind of disappointing. But the author did such a good job switching back and forth from different POV’s that I wasn’t too upset with it.
Conclusion:
”’But no one will break up this family. We will never leave Seed,’ Papa S. says, his voice getting louder. ‘We must call on Nature to help us, save us.’ He is pointing to each of us. ‘We can only be saved together,’ he shouts. ‘Close your eyes. All of you, close your eyes.’”The book, as you read along, becomes more and more terrifying and effed up as you read along. It all boils up to a harrowing and nail-biting conclusion with the mother of all cliffhangers. For those of you expecting answers to all of your questions, you’ll be pretty unsatisfied with the ending. Those of you who like concrete endings probably won’t like this one either, because it’s completely open-ended. But if you were lucky or brave enough to read up to that point, you’ve had a real treat. Horrifying, mesmerizing, and hauntingly beautiful, this book is great for those who like to read about cults and what not.
August 9, 2017
3.5-4 stars
A compelling account of the brainwashing and blind faith that goes with cults! But since it was YA the writing felt a bit too simplistic at times, plus there was a little 'insta-love' (which I suppose can be forgiven somewhat because given the sheltered life they lead, they'd probably be prone to over-exaggerated feelings for the first other person they see).
I'd recommend for a quick read that hides some sinister secrets!
A compelling account of the brainwashing and blind faith that goes with cults! But since it was YA the writing felt a bit too simplistic at times, plus there was a little 'insta-love' (which I suppose can be forgiven somewhat because given the sheltered life they lead, they'd probably be prone to over-exaggerated feelings for the first other person they see).
I'd recommend for a quick read that hides some sinister secrets!
June 13, 2016
Fun fact; I love learning about strange things. I love learning full stop, but when it comes to things that you just can't believe happen? Well, I live for that.
Cults are fucked up. They're something I can't get my head around because it's something so out of my reality. Cults do not often get reported in the news, they're rarely the subject of television shows and movies and books. They're also not that common.
But they do exist. And that is why they should be talked about.
This is the first YA novel, nay novel, I've read about cults. I've watched a few documentaries about them, but never a YA novel. Cults, like I said, are a very difficult concept to wrap your head around, but I think Lisa Heathfield did it perfectly. I think the only true, organic portrayal of a cult you can get is someone writing a non-fictional account of their time in one, but I still think this is a very interesting and frightening portrayal.
Pearl is a girl who, in the cult's eyes, has finally become a woman and yes, it's as seedy (har-har) as you think it is. At Seed, they worship Mother Nature, a being who determines what you eat, how you dress, and what you do. Pearl is completely and utterly brainwashed, and having never experienced the outside world, being born within the walls of Seed. Charismatic leaders always creep me the Hell out, and Papa S is literally disgusting. And while I struggle dealing with topics such as sexual violence and pedophilia, I applaud this portrayal of it; real and happening now.
This shit is real for people, and I think that's what disturbs me the most. You hear of women trapped behind high walls and locked gates, of children brought up to believe God wants them to marry a man three times their age and bear the man's child. This isn't just an American thing (but cults in America are the most exposed), this happens everywhere in the world. It is people playing with other people, controlling them.
It was crazy to read about adults becoming willing to participate in absolute ridiculousness, to become so out of touch with reality that they would let another person do this to them. It's crazy, but it's actually very simple, and happens even outside of a cult mind-set. I loved the relationship the kids had, because despite everything that was happening, they were still curious and adventurous and began to question everything. The cult ideology only affects a certain person; impressionable, and I was rooting for the kids who broke out of the spell and realised "Holy shit we're in a cult!"
If you want to seriously be creeped out, if you want to panic every chapter because you know something awful is just around the corner, then I'd suggest this book 100%.
Cults are fucked up. They're something I can't get my head around because it's something so out of my reality. Cults do not often get reported in the news, they're rarely the subject of television shows and movies and books. They're also not that common.
But they do exist. And that is why they should be talked about.
This is the first YA novel, nay novel, I've read about cults. I've watched a few documentaries about them, but never a YA novel. Cults, like I said, are a very difficult concept to wrap your head around, but I think Lisa Heathfield did it perfectly. I think the only true, organic portrayal of a cult you can get is someone writing a non-fictional account of their time in one, but I still think this is a very interesting and frightening portrayal.
Pearl is a girl who, in the cult's eyes, has finally become a woman and yes, it's as seedy (har-har) as you think it is. At Seed, they worship Mother Nature, a being who determines what you eat, how you dress, and what you do. Pearl is completely and utterly brainwashed, and having never experienced the outside world, being born within the walls of Seed. Charismatic leaders always creep me the Hell out, and Papa S is literally disgusting. And while I struggle dealing with topics such as sexual violence and pedophilia, I applaud this portrayal of it; real and happening now.
This shit is real for people, and I think that's what disturbs me the most. You hear of women trapped behind high walls and locked gates, of children brought up to believe God wants them to marry a man three times their age and bear the man's child. This isn't just an American thing (but cults in America are the most exposed), this happens everywhere in the world. It is people playing with other people, controlling them.
It was crazy to read about adults becoming willing to participate in absolute ridiculousness, to become so out of touch with reality that they would let another person do this to them. It's crazy, but it's actually very simple, and happens even outside of a cult mind-set. I loved the relationship the kids had, because despite everything that was happening, they were still curious and adventurous and began to question everything. The cult ideology only affects a certain person; impressionable, and I was rooting for the kids who broke out of the spell and realised "Holy shit we're in a cult!"
If you want to seriously be creeped out, if you want to panic every chapter because you know something awful is just around the corner, then I'd suggest this book 100%.
January 26, 2016
I wasn't expecting to enjoy SEED as much as I did, but in the end, I really liked it! Kind of creepy, mysterious and sets you on edge. Well paced, with the information reveals coming at just the right moment...I'm desperate to know what happens next!
June 18, 2017
I’ve read a few fictional YA books about cults. I think my fascination with them started when I was a youngster and read Robin Klein’s People Might Hear You. I haven’t read a book set in a cult since that I’ve loved as much as I love that one. I’m a bit scared to go back and read it as a ‘grown up’, even though I still have my copy, in case I find I’ve outgrown it.
Those books I’ve read set in cults all have one thing in common; the protagonist fights against the cult and this is where the tension in the novels comes from. Heathfield has gone against the grain, and instead has a protagonist who is fully immersed in the cult, and whom doesn’t question her way of life or her leader’s teachings at all. We follow a young woman who is exposed to differing ideas from those around her and we see gradual shifts in her thinking.
It’s an interesting way for Heathfield to have approached the novel, and one I felt opened a lot of possibility. This is what worked best for me in the novel; that the author approached the subject matter in a different way. It sets the book apart from, for example, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly which is another recent release around similar subject matter. In addition, the pacing of the novel worked well for me.
What didn’t work so well for me was that I didn’t feel fully engaged by the characters. Even when terrible things happened, I felt remote from the characters and their pain. I wish I had been able to connect with them; it would have made the story more powerful for me. I think, for me, the characters were more stereotypes of what you’d expect to come across in a cult rather than living, breathing characters.
Will I read the sequel? Not sure. On the whole though, this was an interesting idea by the author, that was executed okay. It provided an enjoyable rainy Sunday read for me.
Those books I’ve read set in cults all have one thing in common; the protagonist fights against the cult and this is where the tension in the novels comes from. Heathfield has gone against the grain, and instead has a protagonist who is fully immersed in the cult, and whom doesn’t question her way of life or her leader’s teachings at all. We follow a young woman who is exposed to differing ideas from those around her and we see gradual shifts in her thinking.
It’s an interesting way for Heathfield to have approached the novel, and one I felt opened a lot of possibility. This is what worked best for me in the novel; that the author approached the subject matter in a different way. It sets the book apart from, for example, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly which is another recent release around similar subject matter. In addition, the pacing of the novel worked well for me.
What didn’t work so well for me was that I didn’t feel fully engaged by the characters. Even when terrible things happened, I felt remote from the characters and their pain. I wish I had been able to connect with them; it would have made the story more powerful for me. I think, for me, the characters were more stereotypes of what you’d expect to come across in a cult rather than living, breathing characters.
Will I read the sequel? Not sure. On the whole though, this was an interesting idea by the author, that was executed okay. It provided an enjoyable rainy Sunday read for me.
August 25, 2016
Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars.
My closest friend really sang this book's praises when she read it last year, and having now finished it myself I'm not entirely sure why I didn't pick it up sooner. Seed is an absolutely stunning debut by Lisa Heathfield: I started it early one morning, and finished it later that day. I've never read anything like this before—I know it's a bit cliche to say that, but it's true!
The book follows Pearl, a fifteen-year old girl who has grown up in the midst of a nature-loving community/cult named Seed. From an early age the children are taught to worship Mother Nature and to obey their leader, Papa S. It was really disturbing to read the extent to which the children of Seed have been deluded by the adults—I quickly lost count of how many times I cringed at all the lies. I'm also still thinking about how uncomfortable everything made me feel!
To describe Seed in a few words, I'd use unputdownable, chilling, and resonant. I'd say this is one of those hidden gems of YA: I can see why it might not be for everyone, but in my opinion it's definitely worth a read.
My closest friend really sang this book's praises when she read it last year, and having now finished it myself I'm not entirely sure why I didn't pick it up sooner. Seed is an absolutely stunning debut by Lisa Heathfield: I started it early one morning, and finished it later that day. I've never read anything like this before—I know it's a bit cliche to say that, but it's true!
The book follows Pearl, a fifteen-year old girl who has grown up in the midst of a nature-loving community/cult named Seed. From an early age the children are taught to worship Mother Nature and to obey their leader, Papa S. It was really disturbing to read the extent to which the children of Seed have been deluded by the adults—I quickly lost count of how many times I cringed at all the lies. I'm also still thinking about how uncomfortable everything made me feel!
To describe Seed in a few words, I'd use unputdownable, chilling, and resonant. I'd say this is one of those hidden gems of YA: I can see why it might not be for everyone, but in my opinion it's definitely worth a read.
May 12, 2015
(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)
I felt sorry for Pearl in this quite a few times. The poor girl must have been so confused at times, and some of the things she had to do weren't very nice.
I found the pacing in this to be quite slow, and the story bored me in places because of it. The second half picked up a bit thankfully, so it wasn't quite so slow as the first half, but I still didn't love the story.
Overall, An okay read, but took a while to get going.
I felt sorry for Pearl in this quite a few times. The poor girl must have been so confused at times, and some of the things she had to do weren't very nice.
I found the pacing in this to be quite slow, and the story bored me in places because of it. The second half picked up a bit thankfully, so it wasn't quite so slow as the first half, but I still didn't love the story.
Overall, An okay read, but took a while to get going.
August 9, 2018
You may not want to read this while you're pregnant.
Also, this involves a cult, so there's physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse (including that of minors), implied rape/coerced sex.
And DELIBERATELY USING A MACHINE TO CUT OFF SOMEONE'S HAND.
And medical neglect by not taking people to hospitals/doctors when they clearly need professional help.
Still a great page-turner that I read fairly quickly. Though I was mentally shouting at the characters the entire time ;-)
Also, this involves a cult, so there's physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse (including that of minors), implied rape/coerced sex.
And DELIBERATELY USING A MACHINE TO CUT OFF SOMEONE'S HAND.
And medical neglect by not taking people to hospitals/doctors when they clearly need professional help.
Still a great page-turner that I read fairly quickly. Though I was mentally shouting at the characters the entire time ;-)
March 4, 2016
I don't really have much to say about this one. I enjoyed the book, but think the writing could have been a little better and some characters needed a little more work.
The plot was great, and I found the cult to be an interesting thing to read about. It was very entertaining, yet weird and creepy.
The author did a pretty good job of this one, I look forward to the next book very much.
The plot was great, and I found the cult to be an interesting thing to read about. It was very entertaining, yet weird and creepy.
The author did a pretty good job of this one, I look forward to the next book very much.
December 21, 2019
While I love the concept of this, but the beginning and the end didn't feel like an actual beginning and end.
February 21, 2024
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Seed is a compelling story of strength in horrible circumstances.
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of cults, I have to admit. It amazes me the things that people are willing to believe when a charismatic leader tells them it’s so. And it’s also incredibly interesting what types of things we will accept simply because we are raised in a society where those things are accepted.
In this book, the main character, Pearl, has been raised in a cult. She has been raised to believe that Nature speaks to Papa S (their cult leader) and tells him the right way for them to live. Nature dictates their rules, and decides when someone is to be punished for breaking them (or for thinking about breaking them!). Of course, the situation is very mentally (and sometimes physically abusive). Pearl also looks forward to the day that she will be a companion to Papa S, not really understanding everything that that means.
What I loved:
The concept.
Like I said, this concept fascinates me, so I’m already halfway to loving the book right there. I loved that the book was told from Pearl’s POV and that Pearl is actually completely convinced that their way of life is good and right. She doesn’t have a lot of doubts, especially at the beginning of the book, so we get to see the world through the eyes of someone who truly believes, which made for a unique and interesting perspective. Pearl was a bit naive and trusting, but you could understand this based on her upbringing. It was really interesting to see her slowly (very slowly) start to realize that everything in her little community was not as it should be.
Kate, Jack and Ellis.
The secondary characters in this book were just as interesting as Pearl. In fact, I kind of wished that we’d had the POV of at least one of these other characters to go along with Pearl’s in the book! Kate is a bit of a rebel by the cult’s standards. She has had her eyes opened to the fact that everything is not right with their group, especially since she became a woman and started having to “help” the men of the cult. It was interesting to see Kate rebel against certain aspects of the cult, even while still believing in others – which made sense, since she’d been raised her whole life to believe those things. I loved the pure friendship between Jack and Pearl – he was a sweet kid who hadn’t been tainted by the cult’s thinking yet – though, like Pearl, he did believe most of what they’d been taught was true. Then there was Ellis – Ellis came to the cult as a teenager and he felt very conflicted about the things that he saw. On the one hand, he saw that his mother was happy for the first time in a very long time and he loved her and wanted her to have some rest from her burdens. But, the more that he learned about the cult, of course, the more he realized that this was not a solution for his family.
Mystery woman.
We actually did get the POV of a mystery woman, who we quickly learn is being held at the cult against her will. She gave us a much different view of the cult – we saw its truly violent and ugly side through her.
The negatives:
Sexual naivete.
I had a little bit of a hard time understanding how Pearl was so completely naive when it came to sex. First of all, it struck me as odd that she didn’t get her period until she was fifteen years old and had, apparently, never had a sexual feeling or thought before. I understand completely her not understanding sex itself, but it seemed odd that she was such a late bloomer.
More perspectives.
Like I said, I wished that we had gotten the POV of one of the characters who had more doubts about the colony earlier on. I would have liked to see their thought processes a bit more – especially Ellis. He stated that he was happy to be at the cult because his mother was happy, but it was a bit hard to understand how he could accept any of it, and it would have helped to see his thoughts and feelings when he came to them. While I connected with Pearl, I wasn’t as affected by the events at the end of the book as I could have been because I guess I didn’t feel completely connected to all of the characters.
This book truly makes you think about our belief systems and how they can be twisted, but there is also a message of hope for reason and compassion to win out over indoctrination in the end. I thought that this was a really strong debut for Heathfield. At the beginning of the book, there’s a note that says that this is going to be part of a two book series, and I’m definitely interested to see where the author goes from here. Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
Seed is a compelling story of strength in horrible circumstances.
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of cults, I have to admit. It amazes me the things that people are willing to believe when a charismatic leader tells them it’s so. And it’s also incredibly interesting what types of things we will accept simply because we are raised in a society where those things are accepted.
In this book, the main character, Pearl, has been raised in a cult. She has been raised to believe that Nature speaks to Papa S (their cult leader) and tells him the right way for them to live. Nature dictates their rules, and decides when someone is to be punished for breaking them (or for thinking about breaking them!). Of course, the situation is very mentally (and sometimes physically abusive). Pearl also looks forward to the day that she will be a companion to Papa S, not really understanding everything that that means.
What I loved:
The concept.
Like I said, this concept fascinates me, so I’m already halfway to loving the book right there. I loved that the book was told from Pearl’s POV and that Pearl is actually completely convinced that their way of life is good and right. She doesn’t have a lot of doubts, especially at the beginning of the book, so we get to see the world through the eyes of someone who truly believes, which made for a unique and interesting perspective. Pearl was a bit naive and trusting, but you could understand this based on her upbringing. It was really interesting to see her slowly (very slowly) start to realize that everything in her little community was not as it should be.
Kate, Jack and Ellis.
The secondary characters in this book were just as interesting as Pearl. In fact, I kind of wished that we’d had the POV of at least one of these other characters to go along with Pearl’s in the book! Kate is a bit of a rebel by the cult’s standards. She has had her eyes opened to the fact that everything is not right with their group, especially since she became a woman and started having to “help” the men of the cult. It was interesting to see Kate rebel against certain aspects of the cult, even while still believing in others – which made sense, since she’d been raised her whole life to believe those things. I loved the pure friendship between Jack and Pearl – he was a sweet kid who hadn’t been tainted by the cult’s thinking yet – though, like Pearl, he did believe most of what they’d been taught was true. Then there was Ellis – Ellis came to the cult as a teenager and he felt very conflicted about the things that he saw. On the one hand, he saw that his mother was happy for the first time in a very long time and he loved her and wanted her to have some rest from her burdens. But, the more that he learned about the cult, of course, the more he realized that this was not a solution for his family.
Mystery woman.
We actually did get the POV of a mystery woman, who we quickly learn is being held at the cult against her will. She gave us a much different view of the cult – we saw its truly violent and ugly side through her.
The negatives:
Sexual naivete.
I had a little bit of a hard time understanding how Pearl was so completely naive when it came to sex. First of all, it struck me as odd that she didn’t get her period until she was fifteen years old and had, apparently, never had a sexual feeling or thought before. I understand completely her not understanding sex itself, but it seemed odd that she was such a late bloomer.
More perspectives.
Like I said, I wished that we had gotten the POV of one of the characters who had more doubts about the colony earlier on. I would have liked to see their thought processes a bit more – especially Ellis. He stated that he was happy to be at the cult because his mother was happy, but it was a bit hard to understand how he could accept any of it, and it would have helped to see his thoughts and feelings when he came to them. While I connected with Pearl, I wasn’t as affected by the events at the end of the book as I could have been because I guess I didn’t feel completely connected to all of the characters.
This book truly makes you think about our belief systems and how they can be twisted, but there is also a message of hope for reason and compassion to win out over indoctrination in the end. I thought that this was a really strong debut for Heathfield. At the beginning of the book, there’s a note that says that this is going to be part of a two book series, and I’m definitely interested to see where the author goes from here. Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
December 22, 2015
Ignorance is bliss…
And in Pearl’s case bliss is all she has ever known or at least a manufactured version of it.
Being Pearl, is like being a prisoner of the mind, except that this mind is not her own. It has been shaped into everything she is not and although it might not be ready to break out of its gilded cage, Pearl might just not have the choice.
I actually really liked this book and at the same time, it was a real unnerving read. It had, all the ingredients of what we outsiders understand to be a cult. From the apparently saint like and self-anointed messenger of God (aka Papa S.) or in this case, of Mother Nature, to the strange rituals that only seemed to be expected from the women members of the Seed community, with only one life aspiration…to become Papa S.’s companion.
The only way to experience this life, for at least a short while, was to be Pearl and the author just wrote her beautifully.
As the reader, we share into her happiness, her naivety, and when Papa S. decides to welcome outsiders to the community, we live through her squashing very quickly that little niggling feeling letting her know something is not quite right.
However, Ellis’s introduction to Seed with his family, is refreshing and is a turning point for Pearl, as life as she knows it is about to change.
I found this quick introduction to life in a cult in this novel, absolutely fascinating, in the sense that the illusion of freedom for the members of the SEED community was their version of true happiness.
Some may break away by themselves in time, but it would seem almost cruel to have to rip Pearl away from a life she is so happy with, to make her face a reality she might loath. It would however be necessary though, because at least, it would be the truth.
This is not an easy read, but you will find yourself routing for Pearl to the last page, and that in itself makes it all worthwhile.
Thanking Team @EMTeenFiction for providing me a copy of this title.
And in Pearl’s case bliss is all she has ever known or at least a manufactured version of it.
Being Pearl, is like being a prisoner of the mind, except that this mind is not her own. It has been shaped into everything she is not and although it might not be ready to break out of its gilded cage, Pearl might just not have the choice.
I actually really liked this book and at the same time, it was a real unnerving read. It had, all the ingredients of what we outsiders understand to be a cult. From the apparently saint like and self-anointed messenger of God (aka Papa S.) or in this case, of Mother Nature, to the strange rituals that only seemed to be expected from the women members of the Seed community, with only one life aspiration…to become Papa S.’s companion.
The only way to experience this life, for at least a short while, was to be Pearl and the author just wrote her beautifully.
As the reader, we share into her happiness, her naivety, and when Papa S. decides to welcome outsiders to the community, we live through her squashing very quickly that little niggling feeling letting her know something is not quite right.
However, Ellis’s introduction to Seed with his family, is refreshing and is a turning point for Pearl, as life as she knows it is about to change.
I found this quick introduction to life in a cult in this novel, absolutely fascinating, in the sense that the illusion of freedom for the members of the SEED community was their version of true happiness.
Some may break away by themselves in time, but it would seem almost cruel to have to rip Pearl away from a life she is so happy with, to make her face a reality she might loath. It would however be necessary though, because at least, it would be the truth.
This is not an easy read, but you will find yourself routing for Pearl to the last page, and that in itself makes it all worthwhile.
Thanking Team @EMTeenFiction for providing me a copy of this title.
June 24, 2015
Surprisingly good little NetGalley YA find.
Pearl has lived her whole life in small 'utopia' (read: cult) known only as Seed. She has been taught that everything in Seed is perfect and protected by Mother Nature, who speaks to them through their leader, Papa S. Everything on the Outside is dangerous, dark and evil. So, yeah, pretty much your run-of-the-mill cult situation. Pearl is perfectly happy at Seed, until a family of outsiders arrives at the commune and forces Pearl to question everything she's been taught.
Heathfield is a wonderful writer, which is often difficult to find in YA. I was surprised that this was her debut, because she writes so smoothly and engagingly. The spacing is great, the descriptions are wonderful. It's kind of interesting considering how many dystopian YAs are being churned out, when the horror on display in Seed is such a more tangible, realistic kind of dystopia that actually happens. I'm fascinated by cults, so the subject matter here was perfect for me.
I was really enjoying the book right up until the end, which was such a let down. Recommended for anyone wanting to sink their teeth into a quick YA.
Pearl has lived her whole life in small 'utopia' (read: cult) known only as Seed. She has been taught that everything in Seed is perfect and protected by Mother Nature, who speaks to them through their leader, Papa S. Everything on the Outside is dangerous, dark and evil. So, yeah, pretty much your run-of-the-mill cult situation. Pearl is perfectly happy at Seed, until a family of outsiders arrives at the commune and forces Pearl to question everything she's been taught.
Heathfield is a wonderful writer, which is often difficult to find in YA. I was surprised that this was her debut, because she writes so smoothly and engagingly. The spacing is great, the descriptions are wonderful. It's kind of interesting considering how many dystopian YAs are being churned out, when the horror on display in Seed is such a more tangible, realistic kind of dystopia that actually happens. I'm fascinated by cults, so the subject matter here was perfect for me.
I was really enjoying the book right up until the end, which was such a let down. Recommended for anyone wanting to sink their teeth into a quick YA.
June 15, 2015
This was like reading a brutal dystopian world only it was set in our world which made it more terrifying. Can't get over that ending!
July 7, 2016
Mesmerising. Horrifying. Gorgeous.
Read
May 9, 2019Leider abgebrochen. Mit dem Schreibstil der Autorin wurde ich leider nicht warm.
August 27, 2018
I recently picked up Seed after having had it on my shelf for quite a long time and this book has very quickly become one of my favourite books. Lisa Heathfield has an incredible writing style that really pulls you in and she writes such layered, realistic characters that are easy to connect with. Seed is a really special book that will sweep you away.
Seed is the story of Pearl and her family who are growing up in a place known as Seed. Little does Pearl recognise just how dangerous her surroundings are to her. The luscious countryside, the simplistic life and loving family are all she ever needs to be happy, until some people from the Outside join the family and Pearl realises maybe there is more to life than Seed. Ellis’s arrival at Seed really puts questions into Pearl’s mind that she has never considered before and seeing her internal struggle with what she knows and loves and how that may not be the best thing for her makes this a very emotional read.
The tension slowly creeps as the story builds and you see the doubts starting to grow in Pearl’s mind. Seed is all she has ever known and the people there are the only people she has ever known and it terrifies her when her mind starts doubting it all. It really goes to show just how much control someone can have over other people and it really scared me in a spine-tingling way. It was really quite distressing to read how much Pearl believes in Seed and Papa S’s principals because as a reader you absolutely know that it isn’t the right thing for her.
This book has the most explosive ending I have read in a long time. There was so much drama and action in such a short space of time that it really took the wind out of me. I was crying, I was angry and I had so many emotions. But the overpowering feeling was “Wow, I’ve just read something phenomenal”.
I adored Pearl. Despite sometimes getting frustrated by the fact I so desperately wanted her to believe in Ellis, I could completely empathise with why she was struggling so much. I can’t put myself in her shoes no matter how hard I try but I do know that I love the fact she is such a loving, caring young person with so much inner strength. I despise Papa S and also the other adults in the situation. I can’t wrap my head around why someone would want to treat others in the way that they do but as adults I just cannot condone their actions. Papa S is a despicable human being (if you can even call him that) who is controlling, manipulative and abusive. Ellis is a darling and I loved how much her cared for Pearl and wanted to help her escape and live a better life.
Lisa Heathfield has written a powerful book that leaves the reader feeling powerless to stop the horror as they read Pearl’s story. A book that will leave you feeling emotional in so many ways. Incredible.
Read this review and others on my blog: https://kellysrambles.com/2018/08/20/...
Seed is the story of Pearl and her family who are growing up in a place known as Seed. Little does Pearl recognise just how dangerous her surroundings are to her. The luscious countryside, the simplistic life and loving family are all she ever needs to be happy, until some people from the Outside join the family and Pearl realises maybe there is more to life than Seed. Ellis’s arrival at Seed really puts questions into Pearl’s mind that she has never considered before and seeing her internal struggle with what she knows and loves and how that may not be the best thing for her makes this a very emotional read.
The tension slowly creeps as the story builds and you see the doubts starting to grow in Pearl’s mind. Seed is all she has ever known and the people there are the only people she has ever known and it terrifies her when her mind starts doubting it all. It really goes to show just how much control someone can have over other people and it really scared me in a spine-tingling way. It was really quite distressing to read how much Pearl believes in Seed and Papa S’s principals because as a reader you absolutely know that it isn’t the right thing for her.
This book has the most explosive ending I have read in a long time. There was so much drama and action in such a short space of time that it really took the wind out of me. I was crying, I was angry and I had so many emotions. But the overpowering feeling was “Wow, I’ve just read something phenomenal”.
I adored Pearl. Despite sometimes getting frustrated by the fact I so desperately wanted her to believe in Ellis, I could completely empathise with why she was struggling so much. I can’t put myself in her shoes no matter how hard I try but I do know that I love the fact she is such a loving, caring young person with so much inner strength. I despise Papa S and also the other adults in the situation. I can’t wrap my head around why someone would want to treat others in the way that they do but as adults I just cannot condone their actions. Papa S is a despicable human being (if you can even call him that) who is controlling, manipulative and abusive. Ellis is a darling and I loved how much her cared for Pearl and wanted to help her escape and live a better life.
Lisa Heathfield has written a powerful book that leaves the reader feeling powerless to stop the horror as they read Pearl’s story. A book that will leave you feeling emotional in so many ways. Incredible.
Read this review and others on my blog: https://kellysrambles.com/2018/08/20/...
April 3, 2016
The theme of Seed is one I consider particularly scary because it is so real. This actually happens in real life; I have watched reports on cults and am completely baffled at how they strip people from their personality and how the children born into them never knew and probably do not even want to know that there is another reality.
Seed portrays that reality so very well. It's quite breath-taking reading about a girl who is discovering for the first time everything we take for granted. How she lives in complete bliss because she truly believes everything that is fed to her. How she simply cannot comprehend how someone would want anything other than the perfection she lives in. And how, when someone comes up who tries and explain to her some realities of the world, she simply cannot accept them as true because it goes against everything she was taught her whole life.
All the rituals and rules make perfect sense in the utter controlling environment. You can absolutely see how they would cause Pearl and the others to blindly believe what they are told. I think this is very well done. It's not like she is stupid. She simply cannot conceive a different reality, because everything that is done there has a justification, one not only plausible but perfect, according to the world she grew up in. This dynamics was brilliantly developed in the book.
The sexual abuse is never openly stated but you know it's there. And part of the ending was unexpected.
I do think some things could have been better addressed:
- In the beginning of the book, for a long time there didn't seem to be any other days under than fridays, the day they were allowed to do whatever they wanted; I would have liked to know more about what the family did on the regular days, particularly our main character. We rarely hear about her picking fruit and stuff. The day has 24 hours; what exactly do they do the whole time?
- I think the romance line here was not very believable. I can totally understand Pearl falling for Ellis but not the other way around. He has been on the 'Outside'. He should find Pearl beyond naïve, simply uninteresting. There is not a single clue that points to her being remotely appealing to him. It seems to me he should be much more drawn to Kate, for example. Granted, there was no obvious romance, but still, the whole 'I won't go anywhere without you's just didn't stick to me.
- While the author has done a brilliant job creating a character growing up in this environment, how they would act and think, I believe the transition to when she finally starts realizing what is going on is not very well achieved. It felt to me that one minute she loved Papa S. and the next she hated him. I know there was effort there, but it just wasn't believable to me.
- And finally, I know that they completely believe what they are told but you cannot tell me a bunch of teenagers, in an age where their hormones are probably roaring, feel nothing when looking at each other in their wet underwear. Particularly the boys, it ought to 'show', if you know what I mean.
I am giving the book 4 stars because, despite the downsides, the writing made me feel what the character was feeling. Seed is written in a way which can be appreciated by young and older adults alike. It actually made me appreciate nature more, for instance. Not to mention freedom. Something so many of us take of granted. I wonder... What is worse? Being trapped or not realizing you are trapped at all? As they say, ignorance is bliss...
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Seed portrays that reality so very well. It's quite breath-taking reading about a girl who is discovering for the first time everything we take for granted. How she lives in complete bliss because she truly believes everything that is fed to her. How she simply cannot comprehend how someone would want anything other than the perfection she lives in. And how, when someone comes up who tries and explain to her some realities of the world, she simply cannot accept them as true because it goes against everything she was taught her whole life.
All the rituals and rules make perfect sense in the utter controlling environment. You can absolutely see how they would cause Pearl and the others to blindly believe what they are told. I think this is very well done. It's not like she is stupid. She simply cannot conceive a different reality, because everything that is done there has a justification, one not only plausible but perfect, according to the world she grew up in. This dynamics was brilliantly developed in the book.
The sexual abuse is never openly stated but you know it's there. And part of the ending was unexpected.
I do think some things could have been better addressed:
- In the beginning of the book, for a long time there didn't seem to be any other days under than fridays, the day they were allowed to do whatever they wanted; I would have liked to know more about what the family did on the regular days, particularly our main character. We rarely hear about her picking fruit and stuff. The day has 24 hours; what exactly do they do the whole time?
- I think the romance line here was not very believable. I can totally understand Pearl falling for Ellis but not the other way around. He has been on the 'Outside'. He should find Pearl beyond naïve, simply uninteresting. There is not a single clue that points to her being remotely appealing to him. It seems to me he should be much more drawn to Kate, for example. Granted, there was no obvious romance, but still, the whole 'I won't go anywhere without you's just didn't stick to me.
- While the author has done a brilliant job creating a character growing up in this environment, how they would act and think, I believe the transition to when she finally starts realizing what is going on is not very well achieved. It felt to me that one minute she loved Papa S. and the next she hated him. I know there was effort there, but it just wasn't believable to me.
- And finally, I know that they completely believe what they are told but you cannot tell me a bunch of teenagers, in an age where their hormones are probably roaring, feel nothing when looking at each other in their wet underwear. Particularly the boys, it ought to 'show', if you know what I mean.
I am giving the book 4 stars because, despite the downsides, the writing made me feel what the character was feeling. Seed is written in a way which can be appreciated by young and older adults alike. It actually made me appreciate nature more, for instance. Not to mention freedom. Something so many of us take of granted. I wonder... What is worse? Being trapped or not realizing you are trapped at all? As they say, ignorance is bliss...
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
April 7, 2018
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,,Woher wollt ihr wissen, was ihr braucht, wenn ihr noch nie etwas anderes gesehen habt?'' - Ellis (S. 69)
Pearl könnte glücklicher nicht sein. Gemeinsam mit ihrer Familie lebt sie in Saat, mitten in der Natur und fernab der verdorbenen Zivilisation, die sie nur betritt, um ihre Ernte zu verkaufen. Doch es kommen neue Leute nach Saat, eine Mutter mit einer Tochter und einem Sohn, die viele Fragen in ihr wachrufen. Vor allem der Junge Ellis bringt Pearl dazu, Vieles infragezustellen, denn er selbst scheint nicht an die Worte ihres Anführers Papa S zu glauben. Und als die Ereignisse sich überschlagen, merkt auch Pearl, dass Einiges nicht mit rechten Dingen zugeht.
Bücher über Tabu-Themen haben immer einen gewissen Sog. Denn nicht nur kann man dadurch etwas lernen, auch kann man dadurch Verständnis aufbauen für Personen, die sich in diesen schwierigen Situationen befinden und eben wegen der Tabuisierung nicht darüber reden können. Doch zugleich lesen sich Bücher mit dem Fokus auf ein bestimmtes Thema häufig nach einem Schema F und können einen nicht im Geringsten überraschen. Gehört Hier musst du glücklich sein mit dem Leben in einer Sekte dazu?
Größtenteils leider schon. Doch was wirklich beeindruckend ist und es einem erlaubt, das Buch unheimlich schnell zu lesen, ist der wahnsinnige atmosphärische und passende Schreibstil. Lisa Heathfield erzählt aus Pearls Perspektive, die noch nie einen anderen Ort auf der Welt gesehen hat als Saat und deswegen diesen Ort so innig liebt wie nichts anderes. Deswegen sind insbesondere die Beschreibungen der Natur so poetisch und intensiv in einfache Worte verpackt, dass man ihrem Alltag in dieser Sekte nur gebannt folgen kann. Teilweise wünscht man sich sogar ebenso wie sie, man würde die dunklen Seiten dieser Gruppe nicht sehen, da man sich von den schönen Bildern und diesem Frieden innerhalb der Gruppe regelrecht eingelullt fühlt. Wie entspannend die Natur doch sein kann, wie glücklich man mit ganz kleinen Dingen sein kann, wird wunderbar beschrieben, und das mit sehr einfachen Worten, die natürlich zu Pearls fehlender Bildung passen. Doch schon ganz zu Beginn merkt man, dass Pearl dennoch ein, zwei Dinge merkwürdig an ihrem Zuhause findet und die ihr sogar Angst machen. Alleine ihre schreckliche Angst davor zu sterben, als sie zum ersten Mal ihre Periode bekommt, und um ihre Transformation zur Frau zu vervollständigen einen Tag in ein Erdloch gesperrt wird, ist wirklich eindringlich, vor allem da es unter dem Deckmantel des Glaubens geschieht. So kann die Autorin einen direkt in die Geschichte ziehen und bietet dem Leser eine wahnsinnig glaubwürdige Protagonistin.
Denn sicherlich wird es Stimmen geben, die Pearls Naivität nervig finden werden, jedoch passt es perfekt zu ihrem Charakter. Als friedliebendes und indoktriniertes Mädchen würde sie alles dafür tun, um ihre Familie zu beschützen, und verdrängt deswegen immer wieder aufs Neue ihre Zweifel und Fragen. Alleine, dass sie nicht wissen darf, wer ihre Mutter in der Glaubensgemeinschaft ist, tut einem sehr Leid, sodass man sie am liebsten aus diesem Ort befreien würde. Dennoch braucht sie sehr lange um sich einzugestehen, dass Saat nicht unbedingt gut ist - aber wie soll es auch früher gehen, wenn sie wirklich nichts anderes kennt und nicht einmal zur Schule gehen darf, um zu lernen, was ihr vorenthalten oder womit sie sogar belogen wird? Denn in ihren Gesprächen mit Ellis wird klar, dass sie nicht mal weiß, dass es so etwas wie Raumfahrt oder andere Länder gibt, wo man als aufgeklärter Mensch wirklich schlucken muss. Auf der anderen Seite kann man auch ihre Wut verstehen, wenn Ellis darauf ungläubig reagiert, da sie ihre Familie als gut sehen und sich selbst auch nicht als dumm sehen möchte. Daher ein großes Lob an die Autorin, eine so plastische und glaubwürdige Protagonistin zu entwerfen und ihre innere Zerrissenheit so sensibel darzustellen.
Bei allem anderen hingegen hat sich die Autorin leider sehr kurzgehalten. Man bekommt zwar in den ersten fünfzig Seiten und auch in den Kapiteln danach einige kulturelle Aspekte von Saat mit, jedoch haben sich dennoch einige Logikfehler eingeschlichen. Das liegt maßgeblich daran, dass in dem Buch die Worte fallen, dass Saat alles ablehnt, was nicht von der Natur erschaffen ist. Folglich verzichtet die Gruppe auf jegliche Form von Technologie. Aber dennoch steht in deren Häuschen im Wald ein Klavier und ein Herd, obwohl das ganz klar aus Materialien besteht, die man nicht irgendwo in der Natur vorfindet. Ebenfalls scheinen sie normales Besteck zu besitzen, zumindest wird nirgendwo beschrieben, dass es aus Holz gefertigt ist. Dies sind zwar nur kleine Dinge, allerdings eben solche, die dem Leser in der Geschichte Stolpersteine liefern und das Gefühl geben, als wäre Saat fiktiv, obwohl es ganz klar Sekten gibt, von denen sie inspiriert ist.
Die Figuren abgesehen von Pearl sind jedoch noch gröber gezeichnet. Obwohl Pearl diese Personen schon ein Leben lang begleitet, scheint sie sie nicht besser zu kennen als die Neuankömmlinge, die ebenfalls ziemlich blass bleiben. Das ist insbesondere bei Ellis schade, da er einer der Hauptgründe ist, weshalb Pearl sich beginnt Gedanken zu machen. Er hat jedoch ein sehr ambivalentes Verhältnis zu Saat, denn während er dem Anführer sofort misstraut und immer wieder in Tiraden ausbricht, kann er noch auf derselben Seite die Ruhe in Person sein und den Befehlen des Anführers folgen. Das hätte ja sogar interessant sein können, aber statt hin- und her gerissen zu wirken, wirkt er an diesen Stellen einfach wie ausgewechselt. Zusätzlich dazu kauft man ihm und Pearl die Gefühle füreinander nicht wirklich ab, insbesondere da sie nie Momente haben, in denen sie sich wirklich kennenlernen und in denen die Gespräche mal in die Tiefe gehen würden.
Und das ist es, was dem Buch auch das Genick bricht. Denn es gibt definitiv sehr viele Ansätze, die Tiefgang zeigen, sei es das Anwerben von neuen Mitgliedern für Saat, das Schüren von Ängsten durch Bestrafungen, um ,,böse Gedanken'' zu vertreiben, das Mitziehen mit seiner Familie und letztlich auch die Rechtfertigung von Missbrauch. Damit hätte die Autorin einen wirklich vom Hocker hauen können, doch sie reißt all diese Themen nur an und benennt sie nicht mal beim Namen, was vor allem bei letzterer Problematik schwierig ist. Doch im Laufe des Buches wird die Autorin immer oberflächlicher und reißt Gedankengänge der Figuren nur noch ganz leicht an, und das obwohl die Situation in der Sekte immer dramatischer und wendungsreicher wird. Fast schon zu wendungsreich, da man das Gefühl bekommt, die Autorin hätte möglichst viel in die zweite Hälfte ihres Buches quetschen und gleichzeitig schnell zum Ende kommen wollen.
Das Ende wirkt nämlich wirklich dahingeklatscht und besonders im letzten Kapitel sehr absurd. Die Darstellung des Sektenführers, Papa S, nämlich ist schon ganz zu Beginn sehr zwielichtig. Doch im letzten Teil des Buches scheint er regelrecht den Verstand zu verlieren und führt sich teilweise so albern auf, dass man sich fragen muss, warum die Leute nach einigen seiner Taten nicht abhauen, vor allem im erwähnten letzten Kapitel. Denn eine Sekte lebt doch eher davon, dass sich die Anführer im Recht sehen, aber genau wegen ihrer Ruhe und Gelassenheit darüber so unheimlich sind und die Sekte aufrechterhalten können. Das scheint Heathfield jedoch anders zu sehen, denn gegen Ende wird er wahrhaft verrückt und führt seine eigene Motivation ad absurdum. Ebenso endet das Buch mit viel zu vielen offenen Fragen zugunsten eines ,,spannenden'' Finales, das wie aus dem Nichts kommt und auch in Nichts endet.
Das Buch hätte wirklich der Wahnsinn werden können, denn sowohl der feinfühlige Schreibstil als auch ihre Protagonistin sind wirklich wahnsinnig gelungen. Man ist nahezu in derselben Situation wie die Hauptfigur und möchte fast über die negativen Seiten hinwegsehen, weil dieses Gefühl von Geborgenheit, Zuhause und Zusammenhalt so schön beschrieben wird. Die erste Hälfte des Buches ist daher sehr langsam und nimmt sich Zeit, diese Gefühle und die ersten Zweifel zu erforschen. Danach jedoch passiert Vieles gleichzeitig und rückt diese innere Zerrissenheit in den Hintergrund, egal um welche Figuren es sich dabei handelt. Es ist so, als hätte die Autorin alles nach von ihrer Liste abhaken wollen, hätte sich aber nicht die Zeit dafür genommen, die Konsequenzen daraus wirklich zu erzählen. Im Gegenteil, es geht alles sehr schnell und wirkt stellenweise so, als wären die Kapitel zwar angefangen, aber nie beendet worden. Mit diesem absurden Ende bietet Hier musst du glücklich sein also ein eher maues Leseerlebnis, das mit ein wenig mehr Seiten und Struktur einen wirklich tollen Einblick in das Thema hätte geben können. Vielleicht etwas für sehr junge Jugendliche, die mal reinschnuppern wollen, diejenigen, die sich hiervon Tiefgang erwarten, werden aber ziemlich enttäuscht.
Gesamtwertung: 2.55/5.00 Sternen
,,Woher wollt ihr wissen, was ihr braucht, wenn ihr noch nie etwas anderes gesehen habt?'' - Ellis (S. 69)
Pearl könnte glücklicher nicht sein. Gemeinsam mit ihrer Familie lebt sie in Saat, mitten in der Natur und fernab der verdorbenen Zivilisation, die sie nur betritt, um ihre Ernte zu verkaufen. Doch es kommen neue Leute nach Saat, eine Mutter mit einer Tochter und einem Sohn, die viele Fragen in ihr wachrufen. Vor allem der Junge Ellis bringt Pearl dazu, Vieles infragezustellen, denn er selbst scheint nicht an die Worte ihres Anführers Papa S zu glauben. Und als die Ereignisse sich überschlagen, merkt auch Pearl, dass Einiges nicht mit rechten Dingen zugeht.
Bücher über Tabu-Themen haben immer einen gewissen Sog. Denn nicht nur kann man dadurch etwas lernen, auch kann man dadurch Verständnis aufbauen für Personen, die sich in diesen schwierigen Situationen befinden und eben wegen der Tabuisierung nicht darüber reden können. Doch zugleich lesen sich Bücher mit dem Fokus auf ein bestimmtes Thema häufig nach einem Schema F und können einen nicht im Geringsten überraschen. Gehört Hier musst du glücklich sein mit dem Leben in einer Sekte dazu?
Größtenteils leider schon. Doch was wirklich beeindruckend ist und es einem erlaubt, das Buch unheimlich schnell zu lesen, ist der wahnsinnige atmosphärische und passende Schreibstil. Lisa Heathfield erzählt aus Pearls Perspektive, die noch nie einen anderen Ort auf der Welt gesehen hat als Saat und deswegen diesen Ort so innig liebt wie nichts anderes. Deswegen sind insbesondere die Beschreibungen der Natur so poetisch und intensiv in einfache Worte verpackt, dass man ihrem Alltag in dieser Sekte nur gebannt folgen kann. Teilweise wünscht man sich sogar ebenso wie sie, man würde die dunklen Seiten dieser Gruppe nicht sehen, da man sich von den schönen Bildern und diesem Frieden innerhalb der Gruppe regelrecht eingelullt fühlt. Wie entspannend die Natur doch sein kann, wie glücklich man mit ganz kleinen Dingen sein kann, wird wunderbar beschrieben, und das mit sehr einfachen Worten, die natürlich zu Pearls fehlender Bildung passen. Doch schon ganz zu Beginn merkt man, dass Pearl dennoch ein, zwei Dinge merkwürdig an ihrem Zuhause findet und die ihr sogar Angst machen. Alleine ihre schreckliche Angst davor zu sterben, als sie zum ersten Mal ihre Periode bekommt, und um ihre Transformation zur Frau zu vervollständigen einen Tag in ein Erdloch gesperrt wird, ist wirklich eindringlich, vor allem da es unter dem Deckmantel des Glaubens geschieht. So kann die Autorin einen direkt in die Geschichte ziehen und bietet dem Leser eine wahnsinnig glaubwürdige Protagonistin.
Denn sicherlich wird es Stimmen geben, die Pearls Naivität nervig finden werden, jedoch passt es perfekt zu ihrem Charakter. Als friedliebendes und indoktriniertes Mädchen würde sie alles dafür tun, um ihre Familie zu beschützen, und verdrängt deswegen immer wieder aufs Neue ihre Zweifel und Fragen. Alleine, dass sie nicht wissen darf, wer ihre Mutter in der Glaubensgemeinschaft ist, tut einem sehr Leid, sodass man sie am liebsten aus diesem Ort befreien würde. Dennoch braucht sie sehr lange um sich einzugestehen, dass Saat nicht unbedingt gut ist - aber wie soll es auch früher gehen, wenn sie wirklich nichts anderes kennt und nicht einmal zur Schule gehen darf, um zu lernen, was ihr vorenthalten oder womit sie sogar belogen wird? Denn in ihren Gesprächen mit Ellis wird klar, dass sie nicht mal weiß, dass es so etwas wie Raumfahrt oder andere Länder gibt, wo man als aufgeklärter Mensch wirklich schlucken muss. Auf der anderen Seite kann man auch ihre Wut verstehen, wenn Ellis darauf ungläubig reagiert, da sie ihre Familie als gut sehen und sich selbst auch nicht als dumm sehen möchte. Daher ein großes Lob an die Autorin, eine so plastische und glaubwürdige Protagonistin zu entwerfen und ihre innere Zerrissenheit so sensibel darzustellen.
Bei allem anderen hingegen hat sich die Autorin leider sehr kurzgehalten. Man bekommt zwar in den ersten fünfzig Seiten und auch in den Kapiteln danach einige kulturelle Aspekte von Saat mit, jedoch haben sich dennoch einige Logikfehler eingeschlichen. Das liegt maßgeblich daran, dass in dem Buch die Worte fallen, dass Saat alles ablehnt, was nicht von der Natur erschaffen ist. Folglich verzichtet die Gruppe auf jegliche Form von Technologie. Aber dennoch steht in deren Häuschen im Wald ein Klavier und ein Herd, obwohl das ganz klar aus Materialien besteht, die man nicht irgendwo in der Natur vorfindet. Ebenfalls scheinen sie normales Besteck zu besitzen, zumindest wird nirgendwo beschrieben, dass es aus Holz gefertigt ist. Dies sind zwar nur kleine Dinge, allerdings eben solche, die dem Leser in der Geschichte Stolpersteine liefern und das Gefühl geben, als wäre Saat fiktiv, obwohl es ganz klar Sekten gibt, von denen sie inspiriert ist.
Die Figuren abgesehen von Pearl sind jedoch noch gröber gezeichnet. Obwohl Pearl diese Personen schon ein Leben lang begleitet, scheint sie sie nicht besser zu kennen als die Neuankömmlinge, die ebenfalls ziemlich blass bleiben. Das ist insbesondere bei Ellis schade, da er einer der Hauptgründe ist, weshalb Pearl sich beginnt Gedanken zu machen. Er hat jedoch ein sehr ambivalentes Verhältnis zu Saat, denn während er dem Anführer sofort misstraut und immer wieder in Tiraden ausbricht, kann er noch auf derselben Seite die Ruhe in Person sein und den Befehlen des Anführers folgen. Das hätte ja sogar interessant sein können, aber statt hin- und her gerissen zu wirken, wirkt er an diesen Stellen einfach wie ausgewechselt. Zusätzlich dazu kauft man ihm und Pearl die Gefühle füreinander nicht wirklich ab, insbesondere da sie nie Momente haben, in denen sie sich wirklich kennenlernen und in denen die Gespräche mal in die Tiefe gehen würden.
Und das ist es, was dem Buch auch das Genick bricht. Denn es gibt definitiv sehr viele Ansätze, die Tiefgang zeigen, sei es das Anwerben von neuen Mitgliedern für Saat, das Schüren von Ängsten durch Bestrafungen, um ,,böse Gedanken'' zu vertreiben, das Mitziehen mit seiner Familie und letztlich auch die Rechtfertigung von Missbrauch. Damit hätte die Autorin einen wirklich vom Hocker hauen können, doch sie reißt all diese Themen nur an und benennt sie nicht mal beim Namen, was vor allem bei letzterer Problematik schwierig ist. Doch im Laufe des Buches wird die Autorin immer oberflächlicher und reißt Gedankengänge der Figuren nur noch ganz leicht an, und das obwohl die Situation in der Sekte immer dramatischer und wendungsreicher wird. Fast schon zu wendungsreich, da man das Gefühl bekommt, die Autorin hätte möglichst viel in die zweite Hälfte ihres Buches quetschen und gleichzeitig schnell zum Ende kommen wollen.
Das Ende wirkt nämlich wirklich dahingeklatscht und besonders im letzten Kapitel sehr absurd. Die Darstellung des Sektenführers, Papa S, nämlich ist schon ganz zu Beginn sehr zwielichtig. Doch im letzten Teil des Buches scheint er regelrecht den Verstand zu verlieren und führt sich teilweise so albern auf, dass man sich fragen muss, warum die Leute nach einigen seiner Taten nicht abhauen, vor allem im erwähnten letzten Kapitel. Denn eine Sekte lebt doch eher davon, dass sich die Anführer im Recht sehen, aber genau wegen ihrer Ruhe und Gelassenheit darüber so unheimlich sind und die Sekte aufrechterhalten können. Das scheint Heathfield jedoch anders zu sehen, denn gegen Ende wird er wahrhaft verrückt und führt seine eigene Motivation ad absurdum. Ebenso endet das Buch mit viel zu vielen offenen Fragen zugunsten eines ,,spannenden'' Finales, das wie aus dem Nichts kommt und auch in Nichts endet.
Das Buch hätte wirklich der Wahnsinn werden können, denn sowohl der feinfühlige Schreibstil als auch ihre Protagonistin sind wirklich wahnsinnig gelungen. Man ist nahezu in derselben Situation wie die Hauptfigur und möchte fast über die negativen Seiten hinwegsehen, weil dieses Gefühl von Geborgenheit, Zuhause und Zusammenhalt so schön beschrieben wird. Die erste Hälfte des Buches ist daher sehr langsam und nimmt sich Zeit, diese Gefühle und die ersten Zweifel zu erforschen. Danach jedoch passiert Vieles gleichzeitig und rückt diese innere Zerrissenheit in den Hintergrund, egal um welche Figuren es sich dabei handelt. Es ist so, als hätte die Autorin alles nach von ihrer Liste abhaken wollen, hätte sich aber nicht die Zeit dafür genommen, die Konsequenzen daraus wirklich zu erzählen. Im Gegenteil, es geht alles sehr schnell und wirkt stellenweise so, als wären die Kapitel zwar angefangen, aber nie beendet worden. Mit diesem absurden Ende bietet Hier musst du glücklich sein also ein eher maues Leseerlebnis, das mit ein wenig mehr Seiten und Struktur einen wirklich tollen Einblick in das Thema hätte geben können. Vielleicht etwas für sehr junge Jugendliche, die mal reinschnuppern wollen, diejenigen, die sich hiervon Tiefgang erwarten, werden aber ziemlich enttäuscht.
Gesamtwertung: 2.55/5.00 Sternen
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