Hi there!
Welcome to our Modern Adaptation of Hansel and Gretel for January, Kelly Braffet's Josie and Jack.
Trigger Warning: INCEST, PREGNANCY, ALLEGED INCEST BABY, DRUGS, ALCOHOL, MURDER, ABUSIVE PARENTS, ABUSIVE SIBLINGS, SEXUAL ASSAULT, RAPE, RABIES, ANIMAL ATTACK, NARCISSISM, POISONING, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, HOMELESSNESS, THEFT, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, CHILD NEGLECT, MANIPULATION, PSYCHOPATHY, MENTAL ILLNESS, CODEPENDENCY
Overall
This was a very well-done, interesting read. Everything was done very tastefully and healthily, in terms of keeping things tame enough to make the book palatable, but graphic enough that the author's point was made and the story remained unsettling all the way through. We never felt "safe" while reading this book, but honestly, we couldn't put it down.
Josie and Jack
What a pair. Firstly. Ew. Secondly. Wow, and Thirdly, let's talk about the impact that these siblings had on each other, mostly because they were abused and then abandoned. Whew, that was a mouthful. We kind of wish that we had gone into it blind, but because we did read a blurb, we kind of suspected the incest that was made readily apparent by the middle of the book.
After only a little bit, we thought that they were not incestuous, but that this was a healthy relationship between siblings. After like three more pages, we thought that they had severe codependency. And then after like one more page we were convinced that they were involved in a toxic romantic relationship with each other. Siblings of different sexes don't normally sleep in the same bed after early childhood. That being said, we weren't convinced of the incest until about halfway through the book, when we realized that they were much more intimate than siblings typically are. Especially Jack's physical choices with Josie's body.
We HATED Jack. Hard pass. He was manipulative and was infatuated with his sister in an unhealthy way, and was only present as her brother when it was convenient for him. This meant he was only around her until Raeburn or some other douchebag wanted to beat up on Josie, and Jack made himself scarce because he only was out for himself.
Feelings about Josie. On the one hand, love her, she's the final girl, support. On the other hand. She's complicated to like. She has co-dependency issues with Jack, which makes her incredibly dislikeable. Her identity is rooted in her brother's love for her, which is a recipe for disaster, because once Jack starts acting differently, her identity changes, and then it becomes difficult for Josie to rationalize her own choices, because it's not who she wants to be, nor is it someone who she expected Jack to become. She trusted her brother to a fault- but to be fair, it was like boiling a frog in hot water. Jack's increased psychotic behavior also directly correlated to how much Jack was touching Josie intimately, which is nasty.
Raeburn and Crazy Mary
These two were interesting foundations for Josie and Jack's issues. Raeburn. Literally insane and also the worst. He needs to actually calm down. He needs to hold himself to the standard that he holds others to so that maybe he won't be such a dick. He scared the shit out of both of us sometimes at the beginning of the book, because we didn't know how bad things got with their father until it felt like it was too late. When we saw things get worse and worse and then violent, we were shocked. He was a huge baby too, and threw food all around the house and then expected his kids to clean up all of the broken glass and spilled food just because they were late for dinner. Like. Okay. So you didn't get your kids to entertain you so you threw a huge fit? What a child.
Their Mother, on the other hand, was interesting too. She had to have had some pretty tough skin to have been with Raeburn. That being said, we only think she was deemed crazy by Raeburn, and that he used the children against her. In the end, it seems that Josie understood that Mary wasn't crazy because of the kids, but because of Raeburn instead. Mary, though, only seemed to be on a pedestal for Jack. He defended Mary against Josie's misguided opinions of her, which may be the only noble thing he's ever done.
All the Boys Josie Loved Before (And the ones she didn't)
Kevin, Ben Searles, Michael, and Louis. These guys really didn't deserve what the Raeburn men did to them. Both Senior and Junior. Starting off with Kevin, we knew that the codependent relationship between the siblings had already begun because Kevin was the first divisive person who caused conflict between them - Josie's sexuality and virginity were on the line, and clearly Jack didn't like it. So he kicked Kevin's ass. Nice, great start to respecting your sister's sexual and romantic choices. Oh wait, I forgot, Jack was basically taught from the beginning that his sister was a commodity by her father based on how he treated her. Then Ben was punished for literally being a nice guy, and then also for helping Josie at the party after she barfed. Next, Michael was the innocent kisses man- he was nice and helped heal her foot wound. He let Josie take the lead on the intimacy. We liked that. Then Louis, literally a stranger. And literally so nice to Josie for no reason. And suddenly it was Josie's fault that Louis was being nice and she wasn't allowed to see him anymore. Because Jack didn't like it. The possessive behavior that Jack exhibits is disgusting and hypocritical, and the largest pointer we have towards incest at the point in the book.
Raeburn, Carmichael, and Joe. And Jack. Now these fuckers. Hate them. Raeburn did a serious number on Josie. He mistreats her because he reminds her of Mary, which he admits to. And then let's talk about how when Jack is absent, Josie receives the brunt of Raeburn's violence. Raeburn really gets double the abuse because Jack makes himself scarce.
Carmichael was not problematic up until the moments with Joe. Carmichael was really just there to prevent Josie from feeling alone so that Lily and Jack didn't feel like Josie was tagging along in any way. Carmichael's offer to have sex with Josie, and then Josie's decline of that offer, was an odd moment, but we felt that Lily likely put Carmichael up to it. Once Carmichael revealed that he was an accessory to rape? Instant block.
Now Joe can literally suck it. We really hated him, but we understand that the rape must have happened in the book for some reason, though we aren't sure which. We thought that it was strange that Carmichael was involved. And then we determined that the sexual assault and rape scene must have been in the book to prove to Josie that Jack didn't actually love her, based on their conversation after the fact? Joe was only there to perpetuate the rape, and he was vile enough for it, but it really only seemed to happen so that Josie could see that Jack didn't really give a shit about her.
Becka and Lily and Olinka
Becka was interesting because she was almost not smart enough to fully realize what was going on between Josie and Jack from the beginning. But she knew something was off. We were really bothered that Josie tried to protect Jack after he had hit Becka, and Becka was defending herself. We wish Becka had kicked them out sooner, but Jack clearly charmed the shit out of her.
Madame Olinka was interesting to us as well. The first card she drew was The Hermit, which we believe was a reference to Raeburn and Jack (a shock in her past?), the second card was Josie (the devil), and the third card was the decision to kill Jack in the end (Wheel of fortune). Very foreshadow! We liked it.
Lily was also interesting, mostly because we believe she was meant to be the witch. We believe this because Lily had all the good stuff (money, friends, party, food, etc) and because Jack killed her and Josie helped cover it up.
Compared to Hansel and Gretel
We didn't see a single comparison in the first half of the book other than their mom being dead and them living with their dad, but when they met Lily, things changed. She took them out to dinner and then dressed up for Halloween as a spooky fairy, and that tipped us off that she was the witch character. We agree that this is a retelling, but a very loosely based adaptation if we're being honest. There were no breadcrumbs in this adaptation. But there was a whole lot of trauma instead.
Conclusion
We agreed that the stakes should have been higher in the end. They were much higher in the beginning than in the end, and this book didn't have a finality in the end like we wanted it to. We wanted Josie to confront her dad and that particular scene to be much more intense than it ended up being. It felt like an afterthought and there was no closure. Story structure? It didn't feel like there was a good structure present. Because the stakes weren't too high after Jack picked Josie up the first time and they ran, the rest of the story just felt like a symptom of an awful brother dragging his sister around and using her to get what he wanted.
Another note we had in particular regarding the finale of this book, we would have found it much more interesting had Jack raped Josie in the end - leading Josie to kill him and run for her life. Of course, we would never condone rape, but in this book, the rape scene threw us for a loop. Had the rape been committed by Jack, we believe it would have been the end-all-be-all and a much higher climax that would suit the resolution much better.
We recommend experienced readers to take this book on, mostly because of the graphic content, but also because of the complicated character relationships and the inferred information that is not explicitly stated. There are a ton of vague and subjective concepts that are mentioned and explored in this book, and a newer reader might have a harder time getting into it. If you are sensitive to the content listed in the Trigger Warning Section above, we do not recommend this book to you. That being said we have several other books we have reviewed on our page that you will love!
With love, see you soon!
Ceraya & Brieanna
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