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dizzzybrook'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
biobeetle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Pregnancy
rusina'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Excrement
Moderate: Hate crime, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder
musical_alex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Sexual content
joellemariel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Murder
librarymouse'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I could read this novel a dozen more times and still have trouble categorizing it. It is angsty, lyrical, and shows the process of decontaminating oneself of the harshly imposed shame Christianity often ascribed to difference while avoiding the pitfalls of textual shame - the avoidance or curation of language. Hval writes this novel viscerally, with bodies, their parts, their fluids, and the conceptualization and actualization of sins being given true names and tangible descriptors. The struggle between the individual and externally oppressive religion is relatably detailed, and through that lens, this novel has the same impact when consumed as stained glass church windows divorced from their context.
So many readers who came of age on the internet were first introduced to the concept of a queer tenderness or queerness treated like literary fiction rather than something inherently pornographic, through the realm of fanfiction or short stories written to Tumblr prompts, as was very common in the 2010s. Rather than pulling me out of the story, despite how tenuous my grasp on the continuity of this book was, the narrator intermittently addressing the reader directly as "you" harkens back to that very specific reader insert fanfiction feeling, and the love expressed by the narrator for the reader creates that gorgeous, fluid, and velvety sense of adoration. This is an effect that I remember keenly feeling and craving at the young age of the girl in the puberty portrait that is so often brought up in this novel. I don't know that I can claim this specific tone to be authorial intent, but the mood created for the reader by the form and language of this book, with specific focus on the intersection between naturalism and internet subcultures, intertwines beautifully with the content.
I really don't know if I can recommend this novel to others. It is a lot, but it is also gorgeous.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Antisemitism
flyawaytruelove'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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
That being said... I don't think I was the target audience. The first half of the book hooked me well. I sympathized with growing up in a community heavily influenced by themes of God, purity, and the pure suffocation that entails. Then by the second half, I found myself straying away. It describes a different kind of hate from the one I personally know, a hate louder and more vicious that demands to dig up the antithesis of 1990s puritan Norway. Also the scat imagery caught me by surprise.
"Shit is the root of capitalism." And boy, I did not expect pages later for characters to start flinging feces(?) around?
It's intense. It's experimental. It's dark. There's nothing wrong with taking a chance with this book since I don't think it's badly written at all. But to me, it was alright even though there were a few times where I just... wanted to stop reading it.
Graphic: Gore, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
raintje's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Genocide and Racial slurs
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Colonisation
hannahlouise_'s review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail