Reviews

Interesting concept but 2 stars due to the casual racism (yes I know it was written in the 80s but still) and the way the protagonist does not care that a 44 year old is with a 15 year old (besides her judgement that he is married and you know indifferent to the fact that he’s with this child. (That is until she finds out who the guy is, then she cares more but not about the fact that the girl is still a child).

Anyways I felt the book was lacking and there was minimal discussions on prejudice. Which is odd for a book that is about a frog man who escapes capture and is forced into hiding due to the fact that people think he is a monster just because he comes from a different place.

sleepy_zeep's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-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

5.0

.....frog

swirls's review against another edition

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3.0

Wait, it's over? I WASN'T DONE COME BACK

m_liz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

znnys's review against another edition

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3.0

For some reason this book just didn't click with me until the ending. I think because there were a lot of wandering tangential discussions and not quite a lot of action until the ending? It took me a while to read through it just because it kind of felt like a chore. But I think the ending wrapped everything up really nicely, in a way that was unexpectedly tragic. I wish I had enjoyed this book more but it mostly bored and underwhelmed me until the last two chapters. I'd say this would make for a better film script than a book, but... I guess you could argue that's kind of what The Shape of Water is? Though this is arguably a lot bleaker. The entire situation with Estelle and her children totally caught me off guard.

gloamglozergay's review against another edition

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3.0

An odd reading experience. It didn’t change my life but I didn’t dislike it. The author is clearly a skilled writer - the dialogue in particular is largely engaging and distinctive, with the conversations between Dorothy and her best (only) friend being the highlights for me. There are moments of simple, lucid poetry in the narration. But clearly a choice was made to write the bulk of the narration in a very bare-bones way, which often leaves things with a little too much distance to be impactful - negative space without contrasting activity is just blankness. So much of the storyline was just describing routine, and the parts that weren’t were still described with such stark mundanity that they felt distant and pedestrian. As a result, despite its short length, I felt it dragging in the middle and end. I wouldn’t call it a romance, for sure; it’s doing much more work to just explore the social forces & personal circumstances that might cause someone to be interested in a monsterfucker romance in the first place. No real sensuality to get in the way. There are definitely interesting ideas and commentaries at its core. Monsterfucker romance by way of Hemingway.

jay__book's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad

3.0

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