Cruel Harvest: A Memoir
Written by Fran Elizabeth Grubb and Bryan Reardon
Narrated by Fran Elizabeth Grubb
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
"Get out here, now, or I'm gonna kill you!" he hollered. Little girls are hardwired to hold their daddies in high esteem, so it comes as a shock the first time a daughter feels the back of her daddy's hand across her face . . . or watches him punch and kick her mother to within an inch of her life. How could this be? Her older sisters teach her how to survive, even when he comes for her in the night. A girl learns to become invisible, to look the other way, to say nothing when a curious stranger asks if she's okay. -- To lie. To expect nothing, not even from relatives. -- To cry without tears. -- To pray silently. When she is fourteen, and weary, a girl begins to wish she were dead. Cruel Harvest is the compelling story of how she lived instead.
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Reviews for Cruel Harvest
155 ratings21 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very beautiful, sad but beautiful. The narrators voice is mesmerizing
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This story is raw and real. Although it is hard to hear the abuse she endured, her faith and perseverance brings triumph over evil. Love the authors honesty.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely amazing book. The author is so brave and strong and her faith in God through it all, was so touching. I am so glad I got to read this book. While there is horrible abuse, this women stays strong and gains her freedom.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely amazing. A story or heartbreak and triumph. Love it.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hard to get into at first , it dragged because of the patter of the person reading. Maybe 5-6 chapters into the story did I feel like continuing. Glad I did. It was a sad and powerful story. Francis’s power to be a survivor was compelling and just imaging what she and her family had to go through was so unthinkable, but showed me that our brains really have the capacity to allow us to get through anything if you want to live.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed listening to the story and am happy for Fran that she found her happy ending.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most heartfelt stories I’ve ever heard! I’d love the opportunity to meet this woman and her husband! My heart goes out to her!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I couldn't finish this audiobook as the narrator's voice was an irritant to me. Others may enjoy her agonizing, slow cadence
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harrowing. Beautifully written. Hard at times but well worth a listen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A bit preach-y at the end, but interesting, relatively well written, profound story of not just surviving but thriving. That said I will admit I listen to it at 2X and would have made it go faster if the option were available (it is an option on the other main app for audiobooks). The narrator speaks rather slowly and the content isn’t that hard to grasp.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What an interesting book, you really should do yourself a favour and read it yourself.....I have now listened to this book twice, it is just amazing
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sad how many children have been in this kinda life. Parents are supposed to be protective not the problem. This lights out a past in history that shows how as a society we had to implement the rules we have now when it comes to parenting. But with illegal drugs and mental issues, we still have a journey, a long way to go.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Couldn't finish it the narrators voice was too grating for me .
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A truly shocking memoir, that a human being can be so evil and filled with hate. Well written and a bit blandly narrated, well worth reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book. Was so beautifully written but such a sad story. A happy ending though. I cried so much. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing your story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank you for sharing with the world your story. Truly a miracle story. One of courage, faith, endurance, and hope. The loving sacrifices and bond for ones siblings is truly a gift of God.
I have had a very hard time setting this story aside to go about my daily tasks. So captivating and a great life lesson for me. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heart wrenching, but uplifting. Author is not only a survivor but also a hero.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very good book, well written. An Incredible honesty and bravery.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I didn't want it to end! Beautiful story. Sad, I cried.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was about Fran's life as a daughter of a migrant worker. It is a tale so sad and heart twisting that you keep reading looking for a glimmer of hope in her life. Fran and her siblings do not have an easy life and her father is a terrible person. It is hard to believe that in this country some children still grow up under these conditions. This is a true story about the harsh realities of life.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't usually read memoirs, but I thought I would give this one a try, and I am glad that I did. Fran lives with her siblings, mother and her father. They live in poverty and are always moving around a lot. Fran lives in fear of her father, but she never expresses hatred toward him, even though he is mentally and physically abusive to all of his children and his wife.
Fran and her sisters had to suffer sexual abuse from their father. She constantly lived in fear wondering what abuse she would suffer each day. Her mother was never their to protect her or her siblings, and she abandoned Fran at a very young age. I have 2 children and I can not imagine this. I can't even comprehend it.
Fran and her siblings had to work in the cotton fields at a very young age, from sun up to sun down. Most days they did not get to eat and on the days when they did it was only a bologna sandwich. They had to sleep at night on covers that never got washed. They all had share one washcloth to wash up at night.
Mrs Grubb didn't get to experience most things that children do today. Such as a loving and happy family life. Running around carefree and happy. She longed to go to school like all of the other children, but wasn't allowed to.
Fran tells the story from her point of view as a child and as an adult. The story goes back and forth between the two. This book was very hard for me to read. I had to put it down several times while reading it, and walk away. It was hard for me to comprehend how a parent could do such horrific things to their children.
I will admit that I found myself hating her father. I was so angry at him and wanted to scream. I know that you are not supposed to hate and nothing ever comes of it, but I could not help it. This book was very emotional for me.
As a child Fran had her faith in God to help her through and she often prayed. Her faith in God is what helped her through her very difficult childhood and now also as an adult. Throughout the book Fran talks about her husband and how he has helped her heal.
I found myself wanting to rescue her as the little girl. I admire her very much, and because of her love for Jesus she forgave her father for what he had done to her. I am not so sure I could have done that. Cruel Harvest is a very good book, but as I said it is very emotional and at times really hard to read.
I received a copy of Cruel Harvest from the publisher through Book Sneeze to review and give my honest opinion.