I really raced through this book, it reads like a pretty standard dystopian YA novel, but it has some really dark subject matters which are hinted at; rape, domestic violence, paedophillia, murder, anorexia, and persecution. The community follows the laws laid down by the ancestors in 'Our book', and in this sense and the way that the community was quite basic and old-fashioned made me think of the Amish (although I wouldn't expect the Amish to have a community who raped their daughters as a 'normal' thing). 
 Looking back it does seem that that Melamed wanted to add as many issues as she possibly could, but at the time of reading I found that I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next, so I guess that was actually a good thing. 
 At the beginning I found it a little difficult to define the characters from each other, but as I got to know them better I found them easier to distinguish. I ended up really liking Janey, she was strong, I would call her a role model but I'm not sure she is really a good one, whilst her actions have fairly sound reasoning behind them they aren't always the best choices, and I can see some parents not wanting their kids to read the books because of it. 
 Other reviews I've read have described 'Gather the Daughters' as too depressing. Whilst I don't think it is too depressing I also would say that if you like to read light and easy books it won't be for you. Overall though I would recommend it.