Reviews

Tentacle, by Rita Indiana

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vgk's review against another edition

1.0

This is a short book but I still couldn't bring myself to finish it. I loved the opening chapter, but soon after I began to lose track of what was going on. I have no doubt I lost a lot of nuance and meaning due to my lack of knowledge about the politics and history of the Dominican Republic (although I did Google a lot whilst reading it to try and understand it) - that's on me. But still, it was confusing to a degree that I just found tiring. By page 80 I felt I was understanding around 5% of what was going on, so I couldn't see the point of continuing. I usually enjoy weird books, but this one was beyond me. I really wanted to like it, but in the end I simply didn't find it rewarding.

muccycloud's review against another edition

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4.0

I was looking for some nice feel good speculative climate fiction and this definitely was not it (apocalyptic in the blurb should have been a clue) but I still enjoyed this book a lot, took me a bit of work to get into it but enjoyed it in the end. Quite a strange experience.

mackenzi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

vegetablemathematics's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

gardensong's review against another edition

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quarantine book #3

mayhaps...... i am stupid

ninjenkins's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

stacialithub's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. So many strands, skillfully interwoven. Taut. Tense. Terrific.
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Update 5/21/20: Just finished reading this for the second time. This time, my reading was different in that (during the Covid-19 pandemic/lockdown), I read it aloud during Zoom calls to my friend who didn't have her copy of the book with her in her current location. It was a great way to read the book as we could stop & discuss the sections as we read. And, really, this story leaves me with more questions than answers (which is ok with me).

Some questions...

Spoiler

Was Acilde/Georgio the correct "god" or is it a case of mistaken identity/the prophecy being interpreted wrongly? Did Georgio choose individual love over love for humanity/the Earth? The Greek gods misbehaved all the time, making questionable choices, screwing over each other & humanity -- is that similar to the god/sacred outlook here? Was I expecting a certain ending because of the prevalence of monotheistic religion (assuming a savior will save vs. acting in its own self-interest)? Do the actions in one timeline define/change/allow the person to direct actions in another timeline? Or is there individuality in each timeline?

Those were some of my questions at the end, but there were so many more we discussed as we went along. Lots to think about & I'm so happy that I revisited this story. (Read it this second time for our book club because in 2020 we are reading the "Year of Publishing Women" books published by And Other Stories.)

breakfastpizza's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

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

2.5

lindtari's review against another edition

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1.0

Life is too short to be reading books you’re not into. This book sounded like it had a great premise. Dominican, dystopian, trans characters, I’m super interested in all of these topics converging! However, between the overuse of racial and homophobic slurs, the unnecessary sexual violence, the constant changing of characters, the mixing of topics and issues with no thread that one could follow, and the too many story lines overlapping (with just one character he’s having a double reality between where he is physically and the other timeline he is mentally) I’m just not interested. Skip this guys, do yourself a favor.

dancevera's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I did not enjoy this book, largely because I didn't like any of the characters. There were some interesting ideas in here sure, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anyone.

Content Warnings

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