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llams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Miscarriage
sshabein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction and Child death
Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Dementia
mercerhanau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
It’s a reflective set of stories, looking at slices of life from the narrator as a child, teenager, and mid/late 20s, looking back from later in life. Lots of drinking and suffering from drug addition, wanting to get clean. Depressing, occasionally funny, a LOT of scenes with varying degrees of nausea, dry heaving, and vomit. Unpleasant. But there are also scenes of tenderness that help flesh out the characters.
The title (and a couple references to zombies) encouraged me to look for what could be “horror” or the supernatural in stories that otherwise feel like a fictionalized memoir. Animal presences serve as metaphors that connect interpersonal struggles to the natural world in all its power, chaos, and… stenches.
More thoughts on real-life "horror": SPOILERS / Content Warnings
Feels like an important story to tell. Nuanced representation of a deeply interconnected Native community and family. The writing style and characters didn’t resonate with me, and that’s okay! I definitely see why other people love the book.
Cf. / Reminded me of themes in…
- Wellness, by Natan Hill:
- The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones:
- Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare, by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto:
- This Thing Between Us, by Gus Moreno:
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Vomit
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Dementia, and Car accident
Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Pregnancy
lizzie24601's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Dementia, and Alcohol
Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Racial slurs, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, and Dementia
Minor: Child death
brooketreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I wasn’t sure about this book at first. It just didn’t feel like my typical read, and was truly not expecting to like it. But, it completely surprised me. Such great writing from Morgan Talty. I felt immersed in the story. I had expected this to be a horror (based on the title 😆), but it ended up being less fantasy/scifi horror, more real life horror. This book was literally gutting me all the way through like with the MC’s grandma having dementia… I wasn’t sure how this book was going to end, but I would have never guessed what happened. I gasped, I cried. Read this.
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Dementia, and Murder
caidyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Dementia, and Alcohol
lilias's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I am also reading haunting or horror books this month and thought this was a horror book because of the title. It’s not! I mean, yes it deals with the horrors of marginalization, poverty, and addiction, but it wouldn’t be found in the horror section.
I found myself smiling at moments and cringing at others. Talty’s characters are very human, sometimes unbearably so. Family, friendship, and love are themes that move them along with and against each other. This book broke my heart and at the same time satisfied my urge to want to read something beautifully Maine.
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
carlaah1984's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Pregnancy
kvokolek's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual violence and Dementia
Minor: Pregnancy and Colonisation