Overall? A very powerful story that tacks on countless impressive literary devices and will have you rooting for a main character more than any other book you’ve ever picked up.Godshot by Chelsea Bieker (Catapult 2020)Įveryone in Peaches, California is thirsty. She captured what it’s like to be a small fish in a big pond and to feel utterly powerless about your fate. Godshot would make a great book club choice, because the way Bieker unravels microagressions and individual crimes to reveal a larger and more insidious scheme reminded me so much of how this appeared in real life with the Me Too movement. Lacey May’s trajectory and the trajectory of her mother, who is really is an unidentified victim in this story, also serves to uncover the gendered power dynamics of men in Peaches and beyond. The way she begins to fight against what she’s always taken as fact is incredibly brave and really quality writing. I couldn’t stop reading once Lacey May experienced for herself that Pastor Vern’s intentions are not as pure and honest as he makes them believe. Some of the most memorable scenes in this book are when Lacey May meets someone new and replaces a standard greeting with a question about whether or not they have been saved by the Lord. She spent much of her conscious life in a religious cult and the author does a great job of showing us this. Lacey May is only 14 years old, and I absolutely loved the evolution of her mind throughout this story. What ties this book together and makes it so worth the read, despite the heaviness of so much of the content, is the main character. And friends, it is not a good time inside this book.

Even the title and cover buy into the misleading and mental gymnastics- I went into this book knowing nothing except that the title and cover indicated a good time ahead. Bieker manages to sit on that razor’s edge between reality and satire and it made the entire experience of reading GODSHOT so unique. However, it was really for me and it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. I’ve started many a book review this way, but I really mean this: This book is not for everyone. Through the eyes of Lacey May, he is their leader, their spirtual guide, and the secret “assignments” he gives out are the secret to ending the drought that has gripped the town however, her own assignment is not what she was expecting and begins to introduce, amongst other things, doubt in their way of life.

In Peaches, California there is no rain, but there is plenty of belief in Pastor Vern.

Godshot chelsea bieker