Reviews with content warning for Murder - Walking Practice

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Walking Practice by Dolki Min

43 reviews

akizato's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I liked the overarching exploration of gender and living with invisible disability but man the pacing really ruined this for me. We spend pages upon pages of the main character waxing lyrical on various topics (the female presentation stuff felt very early 2000s feminism) while doing the same thing over and over, and then at the last minute

they get beaten to near death for some unexplained reason, spend a millisecond recovering, and then, after a sex scene that is as close to rape as it can get without being there, the main character is murdered by their assailant. The queer allegory character goes cruising and gets assaulted and then murdered.

What was the point? I get that it's horror and that doesn't usually have a happy ending, but this went literally nowhere. The character didn't grow or change, and the ending didn't seem particularly earned after the drudgery of what came before. I put up with a heavier amount of gore and sex scenes that were basically also gore in how viscerally they were described, and for what??

This felt like a first draft that could do with some expansion to explore the more interesting parts.

I will praise the translation though, which is part of the reason it even gets 2 stars. Representing the exhaustion and alien-ness with the font getting all weird was really well done, it's a really good translation!

Content Warnings

spnopineapples's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really liked this book. Clearly. Given i finished it in a day, which the fact that there are only 160 pages of story print to its name shouldn't detract from. Just because a book is short doesn't mean it can be easily consumed (waves a couple Shakespeare and CS Lewis books in this reader's direction). But I consumed this. Found it in the library while looking for the second book in the Discovery of Witches trilogy which was SUPPOSED to be my hyper fixation. It was the cover art that drew me which, awesomely enough, is done by the original author Dolki Min. The translator (Victoria Caudle) did an excellent job and her note at the end is worth a read. The story itself is violent and fast paced and vividly, grotesquely sexual but there are lines and passages that absolutely floored me. I connected to the main character alien's thoughts. Between its ideas on humans' persistence when it comes to identifying gender and what it means to be one or the other or something entirely different to its brooding thoughts that ooze loneliness and encapsulates what it means to be in regretful solitude; this book drew me. The ending was quite abrupt but honestly not as big of an letdown as it would be in other books because I wasn't here for the plot. I was here for this sexdriven, hungry for human flesh alien's shattered and incoherent trains of thought. And its dissatisfaction with stairs.

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mar's review

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dark funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

while it works really well within the story, the visceral, graphic grotesqueness just wasn't my thing; definitely my shortcoming, not the book's. still, i loved the way the author & translator play with the form, and the exploration of transness and disability really hit home

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samgray's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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orinthebard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While the extraterrestrial main character's actions are often reprehensible to the human mind (seducing people into a false sense of safety then eating their heads like a preying mantis, etc), Dolki Min's detailed descriptions of being forced to expend most of one's energy masking as a typical human for survival were extremely relatable to me as a trans autistic person. There's something to be said about how we can become monsters in our attempt to avoid being seen as monsters by a prejudiced society, forced to turn to manipulation by our isolation. This was also so, so funny at parts, partially thanks to the audiobook reader Nicky Edres's choices.

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messymimms's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

“Have you gotten the gist of what I look like? I am a being that always requires friendly explanation. If I do not explain, no one understands me. […] You are the default life form. You are the centre of the universe. It must be so0O0o0O0o0O0o nice.”

This was an oddly fun and grotesque book, which I felt peaked pretty early on.

The main character goes on a lot of tangents, some of which are funny, poignant or philosophical. Many just didn’t hit for me, and as a result it ended feeling a bit disjointed.

The concept of an alien struggling with earth gravity and relying on the bodies of strangers to survive was evocative, and the parallels with themes of queer and trans belonging felt obvious and important. I only wish there had been more about disability.

Something that took me aback was a fat woman being described as a rhinoceros, and then an elephant. For a creature who critically analyses Earth beauty standards, that seemed a strange choice. The portrayal was sloppy; fatphobic and boring. I’m not sure a 340kg alien covered in hair (nor their author) is one to judge.

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burglar_hobbit's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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callme_tippy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In the realm of reading it is very hard to say "I've never read a book like this" but with Walking Practice I can say it with confidence and I loved every minute of it!

The scene setting, the characterization, the stylistic choices in visuals and writing were all spot on.

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biobeetle's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sarahb919's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A wild, queer story! I found Mumu to be relatable, despite being an alien and serial killer. Their trouble with stairs, their loneliness and desire to be loved, and their frustration with their circumstances were all things I related to and have experienced. I kept hoping they would make a friend but circumstances I suppose I would not allow it.

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