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emory's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
I was puzzled reading this about all the positive reviews I had seen of it. Every story seemed a pointless excuse for Moshfegh to describe something disgusting, insult a random fat side character, and call somebody r*tarded. A few of the later stories, such as Slumming, The Beach Boy, and A Better Place were (comparatively) charming and driven, but the abrupt endings in the latter of these two were discouraging.
The only saving grace I could find for these stories was that Moshfegh is clearly creative in thinking of vignettes of different shades of upsetting people. However, I don't feel as if her writing was strong enough to carry them. Each sentence was short and blunt. The simple sentences lent themselves to the subject matter I suppose, but it was not an artful or particularly nice reading experience. It read more like the begrudging English assignment of a super senior than that of a critically acclaimed author. Not to mention none of her characters were distinguishable from one another. All spoke with the same voice. The most discription anything received were fat characters that Moshfegh seemed to delight in calling disgusting and horrible. And anytime someone from a minority was mentioned, there was some weird aside that the narrator needed to have.
The idea of challenging what the purpose of fiction is and the role of a main character is an intriguing prospect, and this, along with the few stories that stood out to me as genuine, are the reason I'm giving this a higher rating than 0 or 1. But there's no skill or point behind it, to me, other than to shock and disgust. Most of these stories had nothing to say. To make something realistic in its unappetizing circumstances means nothing when you're doing the same trick over and over again. "It's so bad here, what if there were something better? Well, there's not." Cool!
And unfortunately there's not even a single story that's about aliens.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury
Unbelievably terrible descriptions of fat people throughout for no reason. Additionally any time a main character meets a person who is not white or straight, they are very weird about it.tessa_specchio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
grotesque in a good way
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Gore, Stalking, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lcyarnall1'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? N/A
2.25
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
orangesquidbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and Grief
margozaldivar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Addiction
eellinor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Sexual content
althebookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual content
unodoszoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Self harm, Terminal illness, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Stalking
jordannikol's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment