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savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
The collective perspective? Impeccable. The Central Florida setting as character? Humid and palpable. The mysteriousness and obsession? Realistic.
Brutes is a delightful book that is thematically and structurally in conversation with Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. Teen girls are the central obsession. Readers are only allowed to get to know said girls as far as what is witnessed directly by a group of younger kids in the neighborhood; in Brutes' case, the collective witnesses are also girls themselves.
The only reason this novel isn't five stars for me is that I felt like some of the mysterious elements of this story needed to be better developed. Just when something creepy would happen or begin to happen, there was a jump in scenery. I just wanted fewer loose threads by the time I finished Brutes.
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Sexual violence
orlagal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
flavi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
rionstorm'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
3.5
The plot is hard to follow and each new thread that seems like it will be the new main direction inevitably gets abandoned for whatever the characters are more fixated on at that moment, with a fickleness that is thematically appropriate. That being said, the author probably introduced more elements than she could realisticslly or satisfyingly pull off.
The two main characters, in my opinion, are the setting of Florida and the amalgamation/superorganism that is The Girls. The sensory descriptions are delicious and disgusting, and the sense of place is overpowering. This feels like a horror about being a teenage girl - everything is grubby and decorated and fascinating and boring and pointless and achingly intensely meaningful. The characters are fixated on being seen and chosen, with the two possible outcomes (achieving this or not) both anticipated as equally nightmarish.
The tension between their vulnerability, longing for tenderness, cruelty, and disgust at any softness or kindness feels sharply accurate to the experience of teenage girlhood - particularly the teenage girlhood of children who have been profoundly traumatised but don't have any way to confront or desk with that reality. The way that the narrators dance around their traumas without making direct eye contact with it, both as an unconscious survival mechanism and as a conscious denial, put words on an experience I'd seen play out among my peers as a teenager, but never identified.
Overall I found this book interesting, if confusing, and enjoyed the uneasy atmosphere it created. Reccomend to people who love gross, cruel, painful, conflicting portrayals of girlhood, to people who love descriptions of rot and bugs and swamps, and to fans of Ethel Cain. Do not reccomend to people who want a solid plot or any conclusions.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail