Reviews

Some books just have a way of gutting you. All three of Tiffany McDaniel’s incredibly poetic, powerful, and poignant novels are these such books. On the Savage Side might be the most devastating and impactful of the three.

A beautiful and gut-wrenching novel of sisterhood, family, addiction, poverty, and all of the threads that connect women to each other and to the earth, On the Savage Side was a read that took its time. My reading experience wasn’t frenzied nor fast-paced but slowly unfolded like a wildflower breaking through the soil and slowly unfurling its way to its full beauty and potential. I found myself thinking of Arc and Daffy and all of the other flawed yet extraordinary women of this novel even when I wasn’t drowning in its pages. As with all of McDaniel’s books, it’s her characters who grab hold of you and don’t let go, and then it’s her soothing, poetic, and unflinching prose that tethers you to the ground while allowing you to float amongst the clouds. It’s hard to describe just how impactful her words and storytelling are. I can only tell you to read her books. Read all three. They are incredibly different experiences, yet each touch you deeply and leave you changed as a reader.

On the Savage Side is one of the best depictions of addiction I have ever read. It doesn’t indict the people with this disease, but instead it shows their aching humanity in all of its colors and complexities. Having loved and lost a family member who fought addiction, I was blown away by how McDaniel balanced the nastiness of the disease with love and grace for her characters. Arc’s ability to “make the savage side beautiful” is just what this extraordinary author was able to do with her incredibly difficult and nuanced subject matter.

As usual, I won’t provide a synopsis of this novel. That you can easily find online. But I hope my reflection above helps you decide to pick up this masterpiece of writing. This book is not for a casual read. It is built for reflection and change. Please check content and trigger warnings, as it doesn’t shy away from the savage side of life, as it doesn’t turn a blind eye to abuse and pain.

Thank you to this author for writing with such care and bringing light to the stories of those women society would rather forget and write off, for giving them a voice and for giving them humanity. I will carry Arc and Daffy and all of the women of this novel with me for a long time to come.

lottie1803's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

danimcthomas's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Sigh. Given that Betty is the best book I’ve read in years, Tiffany McDaniel really disappointed me with this one.

The lyrical, mystical, flowery language that makes Betty magical - and makes sense in that context - feels totally forced. I think it’s what ruined the book for me. It’s one thing to have a Cherokee father and a girl looking back on her life speak that way. But with Arc and the other characters, it just feels forced and weird. The dialogue kills me.

It IS so important that these cast outs and runaways are humanized, but the metaphors and mysticism just feel so out of place in this context. Real people don’t talk like that.

The twist was an actual twist and there are pieces of that I liked, but it also felt a little ham-fisted. And then Arc explains it as not madness and that she was doing it on purpose all the time? Idk. Just didn’t work.

This had so much potential. Very disappointing.