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Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'
This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero
3 reviews
willow1113's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- 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
3.5
This is the third of Cantero's books that I've read, and I'm not as head over heels about it as I was the others. As with the previous, it is a fascinating combination of meta-textual commentary on a set of genre tropes, and a completely over the top example of the same. I think that the reason that it didn't work for me is that I'm not as familiar with the genre, and so rather than being engaged with the cleverness (and the bits I did get were so very clever) sections felt really flat.
Also, I think the pace of the story was best described as frenetic. Which when there are madcap criminal Things happen, including car chases and shootouts, kind of makes sense, but I did find it exhausting to read and it took me significantly longer than I would have expected. I dialed it down to only attempting to read a chapter at a time, and that helped for dealing with the overwhelm, but meant that I wasn't as focused on the details of the plot as I might have been.
The central conceit, of two people in the same body, kind of worked, but there were lots of times where the science side of my thoughts got in the way, because the plausible deniability wore thin. Be interested in knowing whether other people find the same thing, and whether it is more that I just wasn't engaged enough. After all, I'm perfectly willing to hand wave lots of science bullshit when a story sells it to me.
As would be expected for detective noir, the characters are all a bit over the top, a bit charicatured, a bit flimsy. I didn't really mesh with any of the major players, finding the most believable one a bit part -- Ursula, kid sister of the fellow whose death is being investigated.
There are many great paragraphs, several fabulous scenes, but few gripping chapters.
All in all, Cantero stays on my 'buy on sight' list because their all in investment in deconstructing stories makes for a great read.
Also, I think the pace of the story was best described as frenetic. Which when there are madcap criminal Things happen, including car chases and shootouts, kind of makes sense, but I did find it exhausting to read and it took me significantly longer than I would have expected. I dialed it down to only attempting to read a chapter at a time, and that helped for dealing with the overwhelm, but meant that I wasn't as focused on the details of the plot as I might have been.
The central conceit, of two people in the same body, kind of worked, but there were lots of times where the science side of my thoughts got in the way, because the plausible deniability wore thin. Be interested in knowing whether other people find the same thing, and whether it is more that I just wasn't engaged enough. After all, I'm perfectly willing to hand wave lots of science bullshit when a story sells it to me.
As would be expected for detective noir, the characters are all a bit over the top, a bit charicatured, a bit flimsy. I didn't really mesh with any of the major players, finding the most believable one a bit part -- Ursula, kid sister of the fellow whose death is being investigated.
There are many great paragraphs, several fabulous scenes, but few gripping chapters.
All in all, Cantero stays on my 'buy on sight' list because their all in investment in deconstructing stories makes for a great read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Drug use, Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
lycanhood's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Mental illness