Top 5 Wednesday: Books with "Hard" Topics

I have not done a top 5 post in a while as I did not feel I had anything to contribute to the topics that were suggested. However, I have definitely read some books recently that deal with extremely difficult subjects and could not pass the opportunity to talk about them.

I would also like to say that some subjects for me are much harder than others. For example, I tend to avoid books dealing with WWII because I find them emotionally difficult to read. For this reason I have not read Unbroken - I saw the movie though and it was very difficult to watch. I think books with hard subjects are very important for raising awareness and some of them also make great survival stories and celebrate the strength of human spirit, but I can only take such books in small doses. It literally takes me days and sometimes weeks to get over them.

Now finally, to my top 5 recent reads with difficult topics.

1. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

The blurb on the back of this book is extremely vague, and I went into this not knowing what I was getting myself into. This book is about a young Nigerian girl who flees her home country to escape the horrors of "oil wars" - deliberate killings of entire villages whose only infraction was having a home in the area of rich oil deposits. So this is a story of what happened to her family and her struggle to find basic safety in this world. This book deals with some extremely difficult subjects. Trigger warnings would include violence, rape and utter despair. I have a full review of this book here.

2. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This is another book which I picked up without fully realizing the effect it would have on me. It's the story of two sisters living in Shanghai whose father ends up gambling away the family fortune and sells them as brides to America. This is also the time when China is at war with Japan. Terrible things happen to these girls before and after they leave China. This book was so difficult for me that I never picked up the sequel. I am literally scared to find out what happens next because I got so attached to the main heroines. A trigger warning for this one is rape.

3. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

First of all, this is Christian fiction. It is loosely based on the Book of Hosea in the Bible. In it, God tells a righteous man to marry a prostitute, and he obeys God's direction. Redeeming Love is set in the 1850s in California. The main heroine is Angel, a high-priced prostitute, who one day meets Michael Hosea and ends up marrying him. The book is about Angel's tough journey from being an unwanted illegitimate child, who at the age of 8 gets sold to a brothel, to someone who not only allows herself to feel deserving of being loved, but also sets out to help other women in desperate circumstances. I cried a lot reading this book. The main heroine truly goes through hell. However, the ending in her story is beautiful and full of hope. I highly recommend this novel. Trigger warnings include rape and child abuse. I have a full review of the book here.

4. Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

This was another very recent read. It was also my first Ellen Hopkins' book and I absolutely loved it. This book deals with sibling suicide, bullying, betrayal and overall, growing up and dealing with difficult circumstances.  Reading it felt at times like riding an emotional roller coaster. This book is also tackling the subject of why. As in, if there is an all-powerful and good God, why is life so cruel... How can deity allow this to happen? etc. A great read. I have a full review for this one also.

5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This is a sad story of two drifters travelling around California and picking up odd jobs during the Great Depression. One of them has a mental illness and ends up getting in trouble. Even though the book is very short, it packs a powerful punch. It tackles such issues as the place of people with mental illness in society and our ability to both keep them from trouble and ensure they live good lives. This book is not as heart-wrenching as some of the others on this list, but it is very profound and sad.

As usual, if you'd like to know more about Top 5 Wednesday, it is a Goodreads group and the link to the page is here.