Scan barcode
sommarborne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However, this book is oddly captivating and reads like a deeply disturbing urban fairy tale. The second half of the book reminded me a lot of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is better to go into this story expecting it to read like a fairy tale & to not take the story to be “realistic” in any sense of the word.
All of the characters except for Steven (the main character) are obnoxious over the top depictions of various levels of evil or hopelessness. The dialogue, in my opinion, is the worst part of the book. It is annoying to read and never gets better.
The author really spoon feeds you way too much. He doesn’t seem to trust the art of subtle storytelling or showing rather than telling. The dialogue is more fitting of a child’s story where you have to make it clear who the “bad guy” is.
It does come across like the author or, at the very least, the main character does not like women whatsoever or anything with a vagina. There is a good deal of vaginal mutilation in this book & a focus on using that as a form of reaffirming Steven’s sense of masculinity. I do think that was the point but I also feel like the author did not convey this particularly well and it made me roll my eyes several times.
I do not usually comment on the physical descriptors of characters too often, but I have to admit that the book is actually super fatphobic and I mean that for real. Steven’s mother is obese and every scene with her makes a point to mention her fatness in revolting ways meant to emphasize her “evilness” essentially. Like I said, the characters are cartoonishly bad.
There is also a super random use of the n-word for absolutely no reason and I mean NO reason. It was so out of left field I had to reread it ten times over because I kept trying to understand where it came from. The book has nothing to do with racism whatsoever & it is one of the cows that randomly says it? It is toward middleish of the book.
The violence is a bit obnoxious and it reminds me of try hards doing their best to use shock and disgust rather than writing better, but the writing itself actually is good beyond that and the development of Steven’s character arc is surprisingly well done. This might seem wild to admit given the context of this book, but Steven is a weirdly relatable main character and I have to give props to the author for that.
He isn’t relatable in the sense of the extreme and violent choices he makes, but rather he is a well done metaphor of the desire to find a community & a purpose in life when you constantly feel detatched from everything and everyone. For me, the ending of the book was incredibly satisfying and made plenty of sense. It was bittersweet in a super fucked up way.
If you can stomach it, I do think it is worth a read. It isn’t often we have these contemporary fairy tales but it really did remind me of the over the top and bizarre gore you would read in the original Grimms fairy tales & similar stories.
I found the animal violence to be fairly easy to skim without missing tangible points. While the scenes are undeniably upsetting and graphic, I will say that the violence against people in the book are definitely more graphic which I did kinda appreciate.
This is a wild read and I think the beginning and dialogue are the weakest points. This is gonna sound insane but trust me: when the cows start to talk is when the book gets more tolerable. I think a lot of interesting essays could be written about this.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs and Abortion
rarityfemme's review
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
dreamyari'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? Yes
0.5
i’m not even kidding, this and dead inside have the exact same problem of being so formulaic where every chapter is the repeat of the previous one with like. a sentence of a difference. extreme horror is great but only when done with an iota of something that isn’t just ~oooo disgusting description that will make the reader gag~. it sure will!! but what’s the point if that’s all there is? WHY did so many influencers recommend this lmao
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
katenorman17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
janachigo'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
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy
villaintines's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
reddarko's review
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, and Excrement
anpaul98'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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
atranscryptid'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
schmalynn's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content