The Grace Year Book Review-- Our Years

In Garner County, there are plenty customs that muzzle women’s voices and discredit their pain. Girls are always told they are born with potent magic that can lure men and bring on harm to the whole territory. To get rid of the magic, every girl on the edge of womanhood will be sent to the outskirts and live in emcampment. The year is named The Grace Year.

Sixteen- year- old Tierney James, who is always perceived as a boy- like indecent girl, craves for a better life, in which men and women have equal rights.  But when The Grace Year draws near, she quickly realizes that the danger is not just the poachers who will cut grace year girls alive to make a fortune in the black market. The greatest threat may very well be each other.

Politics affects much. It pits poachers against grace year girls, male against female, even female against female. In grace year girls’ eyes, poachers are inhumane monsters. On the other hand, as poachers are born with a lack of resources, they need to put grace year girls’ skin on sale so they do not die starving. They call grace year girls as “prey” and “it” so they do not blame themselves immoral.

In fact, the killings are encouraged by the county. The girls have hallucination and start to harm one another. They have committed some crimes and I believe that even they are not forbidden to vocal about The Grace Year, they will still mute themselves. After the hell, the women conforms more to the county because the lives in county feels like a gift. It is not just the grace year girls are the victims of the county, but also the guards, the wives and the poachers. Every one is sacrificing and suffering from the county’s governance.

People only see what they believe. Tierney finds out what drives the girls nuts. With all her effort, the girls recover from the infectious disease. However, there were still times the girls see the ghost and feel the magic. They cannot accept that they are under scrutiny all of their life for no reason. What makes them worthy is the magic. How pathetic and sad.

What makes this book stand out is the exploration of Tierney’s journey as a woman against the norms. An incredible story.