... wonderful ... [The book's] remarkable craftsmanship and honest, pure tone make it an absolute pleasure to read ... The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls has an unforgettable force. Gray possesses the ability to avoid judging her flawed, utterly human characters, who are without exception crafted from the heart.
Engrossing and moving ... Alternating among each sister’s perspective, the story unravels at a measured pace, deliciously feeding the reader surprises about the past and present throughout. This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Caroline Leavitt’s Cruel Beautiful World (2016), Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage (2018), and other family dramas.
Anissa Gray's debut novel...examines...cracks in the familial glass, giving readers a gripping and sharp story about what it takes to hold a family together when everything is falling apart ... The sisters' words are emotionally resonant and substantial while carrying readers through the story, yet linger after putting the book down. And while the point of view is of a black family in small town Michigan, the story holds timeless and universal qualities.
...[a] luminous debut ... There is no redemption story for Althea and Proctor, no lemonade made out of lemons, and that’s part of what makes Gray’s novel such a compelling read ... Each of the three Butler sisters narrates their own stories, and Gray handles the switching between their points of view superbly. Care and Feeding is a precise study of how each member of a family works through its demons when long-kept secrets are unearthed.
...vivid descriptions ... It’s clear that Gray took great care in creating fully fleshed-out narrators struggling to keep themselves from being defined by their pasts. (Translation: These are women you want to root for.) Gray's first novel echoes Brit Bennett’s The Mothers in its return-to-a-small-town vibe, as well as Mesha Maren’s Sugar Run in its references to women's imprisonment. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is a moving portrait of a troubled family that would be an excellent book club pick.
Anissa Gray has written a beautiful debut novel. Though the characters may not be especially likable, they are strong and three-dimensional. The narrative, voiced from the points of view of the three sisters and through Proctor’s letters to Althea, is slowly paced yet well balanced, with just the right amount of interaction among the characters, inner dialogue and reminiscences ... Despite its slow pace, the novel does not drag. In fact, it made me savor the story, the characters and the plot. I felt compelled to keep turning the pages to find out what happens to the girls and if they will be able to escape the clutches of the past. is well worth reading.
Gray manages a large cast of characters with ease, sharply differentiating between the voices of hardheaded Althea, shrewd Viola, and hesitating Lillian, who narrate the novel in alternating chapters. Scenes of Althea attending Bible study in jail and grappling with her faith tend to drag and read as extraneous to the more pressing family dramas at hand ... A deep dive into the shifting alliances and betrayals among siblings.
Moving ... This is perfect for fans of Brit Bennett’s The Mothers; readers will be deeply affected by this story of a family wrestling to support itself.
