laurelinwonder's review against another edition
5.0
Okay, I've been sitting on this one, Kindle let you all know I finished it, but I needed time to digest. This was not at all what I thought it might be. The title, the cover, the small press all slotted this book into the box I like to call "could-have-a-good-plot-but-likely-to-have-errors-and-be-overall-iffy". It was not any of these things.
This was well written, and made me feel dirty like I had just read "Bastard Out of Carolina" dirty. This is not a story for everyone, but fans of Jack Ketchum will be pleased, Ketchum in fact said that "Karen Runge scares me," which really sets the tone.
A few things: There is sensitive content here, but it is not written in a perverse, lurid or sleazy way. I really appreciated this, and found myself rereading to appreciate the deft hand Runge took to this story. It read like a meditation, lots of repetition, but this made it dream-like in a good way. It worked to keep the plot as dream-like as it is for our narrator. I won't spoil why.
So, read it if it sounds up your alley, but go into it slowly, carefully, and appreciate the craft, and how we as readers are along on this road trip of a dream world. For the first 50 pages I didn't think this would be a 5star book for me. But, I held on, rapt, and it was very satisfying in the way realistic horror rarely is.
This was well written, and made me feel dirty like I had just read "Bastard Out of Carolina" dirty. This is not a story for everyone, but fans of Jack Ketchum will be pleased, Ketchum in fact said that "Karen Runge scares me," which really sets the tone.
A few things: There is sensitive content here, but it is not written in a perverse, lurid or sleazy way. I really appreciated this, and found myself rereading to appreciate the deft hand Runge took to this story. It read like a meditation, lots of repetition, but this made it dream-like in a good way. It worked to keep the plot as dream-like as it is for our narrator. I won't spoil why.
So, read it if it sounds up your alley, but go into it slowly, carefully, and appreciate the craft, and how we as readers are along on this road trip of a dream world. For the first 50 pages I didn't think this would be a 5star book for me. But, I held on, rapt, and it was very satisfying in the way realistic horror rarely is.
_thebookwormattorney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
โ๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง'๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐. ๐๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ง๐.โ
๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ : โ โ โ
A mother and daughter, both nameless, live a life on the go. They have no place to call home. To get by, the mother is willing to sacrifice it all, including her own daughterโs innocence. As we follow this mother-daughter relationship, we quickly see how traumatic it is to be misled by the one person you should be able to trust the most.ย
___________
This is a deeply-touching tale that details the cycle of abuse, and further, how those being abused often adjust to the abuse, deeming it as normal. It was truly heartbreaking to see how morally corrupt the mother was. ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ? Saddening, but realistic to what happens in those situations. โน๏ธ
ย
What I didnโt like about this book was that it read more like a memoir, with the daughter going through flashbacks of her life throughout the entire story. Because the writing is vague, it felt like I was reading the daughterโs narrative without any direction or plot to get me invested.ย
๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ-๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐. I will say thisโRungeโs choice to leave the MCsโ names unknown was genius. Doing so makes clear that the daughter couldโve been any one of us. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ง/๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ.
Definitely check out the TWโs for this book. Child abuse is a focal point of this story.ย
@_thebookwormattorney
๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ : โ โ โ
A mother and daughter, both nameless, live a life on the go. They have no place to call home. To get by, the mother is willing to sacrifice it all, including her own daughterโs innocence. As we follow this mother-daughter relationship, we quickly see how traumatic it is to be misled by the one person you should be able to trust the most.ย
___________
This is a deeply-touching tale that details the cycle of abuse, and further, how those being abused often adjust to the abuse, deeming it as normal. It was truly heartbreaking to see how morally corrupt the mother was. ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ? Saddening, but realistic to what happens in those situations. โน๏ธ
ย
What I didnโt like about this book was that it read more like a memoir, with the daughter going through flashbacks of her life throughout the entire story. Because the writing is vague, it felt like I was reading the daughterโs narrative without any direction or plot to get me invested.ย
๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ-๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐. I will say thisโRungeโs choice to leave the MCsโ names unknown was genius. Doing so makes clear that the daughter couldโve been any one of us. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ง/๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ.
Definitely check out the TWโs for this book. Child abuse is a focal point of this story.ย
@_thebookwormattorney
motherhorror's review against another edition
5.0
Doll Crimes is the unflinching story of a young mother and her daughter surviving homelessness through desperate acts. Our narrator is the daughter--everything is filtered through her thoughts, feelings, life experience, and context so I'm going to warn you now: It's brutal; heartbreaking. I can't explain how unsettling it is to be a 43-year-old woman, a mother of three kids, an emotional reader who invests too deeply in the lives of fictional characters, to read a book like this. The author, Karen Runge does not hold back. Our young narrator talks freely about her mother's "friends"--the long list of men they have stayed with over the years. Much to our disgust, she calls them "Uncle". These strangers are given this immediate privilege of getting the family term by her mother. So many Uncles- Uncle Steve, Uncle Dan, etc. It's so messed up and wrong but our protagonist doesn't see it the way we do and so as you read this story, you live in the constant tension of knowing how f*cked up everything is but it's translated as normative. I'm going to preserve your reading experience so I'm going to withhold details about the story that are game-changers. I will say that in the first part of the story, the first 100 pages feel like reading a memoir, reflections, musings. Our protagonist has this short-lived "paradise" time in her life when her and her mother lived with a woman named "Aunt Clem" and so we get real-time situations peppered with comparisons to that paradise. Heaven & Hell. This is harrowing--it's painful but it's nothing like the last half of the story. The last 100 pages killed me.
How old is the daughter? I don't know exactly. In some scenes, the girl's mother treats her like a child and other times like a best friend, a peer. We know they're only 15 years apart. Through the leering, predatory gazes of the men they encounter, we also know that people think they're sisters.
What's our protagonist's name? I couldn't remember that either and I leafed through the pages to find it and all I kept seeing were the times the girl's mother called her, "Babe", "Doll", "My girl". Or the names the men called her, "Little Miss" "Sweetie" "Girlie" or whatever other demeaning pet names. It's very fitting that her name and age are ambiguous--not memorable; not important.
I'll be honest: I don't know that I would have picked up this book on my own, free will. I have a pretty serious inability to hang with stories heavy with child exploitation/abuse. But Karen Runge is a talented author. I've read a few of her short stories as part of an anthology-they always stand out among her peers. She's very good. Also, Karen was assaulted the weekend before this book released. She was unable to promote this book as much as she would have. This prompted me to help promote it, buy it and commit to reading & reviewing it.
I'm glad I didn't shy away from this one. Everything inappropriate or exploitive was handled in such a way that was mindful of the purpose of sharing it--if that makes sense. It's almost like Karen didn't want to double-down on the exploitation here and I really respect that. So I'm going to say that yes, this has all the triggers but it's not there for shock value. This is the story of Doll Crimes and there wasn't any other way to tell it. Karen Runge's talent shines bright in this pitch-black horror story of real monsters and their prey.
How old is the daughter? I don't know exactly. In some scenes, the girl's mother treats her like a child and other times like a best friend, a peer. We know they're only 15 years apart. Through the leering, predatory gazes of the men they encounter, we also know that people think they're sisters.
What's our protagonist's name? I couldn't remember that either and I leafed through the pages to find it and all I kept seeing were the times the girl's mother called her, "Babe", "Doll", "My girl". Or the names the men called her, "Little Miss" "Sweetie" "Girlie" or whatever other demeaning pet names. It's very fitting that her name and age are ambiguous--not memorable; not important.
I'll be honest: I don't know that I would have picked up this book on my own, free will. I have a pretty serious inability to hang with stories heavy with child exploitation/abuse. But Karen Runge is a talented author. I've read a few of her short stories as part of an anthology-they always stand out among her peers. She's very good. Also, Karen was assaulted the weekend before this book released. She was unable to promote this book as much as she would have. This prompted me to help promote it, buy it and commit to reading & reviewing it.
I'm glad I didn't shy away from this one. Everything inappropriate or exploitive was handled in such a way that was mindful of the purpose of sharing it--if that makes sense. It's almost like Karen didn't want to double-down on the exploitation here and I really respect that. So I'm going to say that yes, this has all the triggers but it's not there for shock value. This is the story of Doll Crimes and there wasn't any other way to tell it. Karen Runge's talent shines bright in this pitch-black horror story of real monsters and their prey.
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