Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

30 reviews

froggy1png's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Minor: Rape

cluckieduck's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 Oof. This is a beautiful book, but I can't say I enjoyed it. In fact, I don't think it's written for you to enjoy; it's a harsh, brutal reality of a life in an isolated community that many people are sheltered from knowing, and whether that's good or bad, I'm not one to say.

Tanya Tagaq has such a way with her prose. The juxtaposition of lyrical, poetic flow and crass, vulgar descriptions is really engaging. This was a quick book to read, but the subject matter is far from easy. It is rife with triggering content masked beneath mythical stories that make you question if what you really read just happened, but not wanting to go back and double-check. Some things are better left uncovered.

Empathy is for those who can afford it. Empathy is for the privileged. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

abookishlesbian's review against another edition

5.0

Speechless. This was not an easy read, it forces you to confront the brutality of life in such a beautiful yet disorienting way. Tagaq does not spare the pain or the horror, but cradles you in moments of love, beauty, and laughter. The way she was able to express hard hitting topics such as child abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, etc through a combination of memoir, magical realism, and poetry, i experienced more emotional whiplash from this work of art than anything I've read in a very long time. This was truly a book I will never forget, and one I'd highly recommend but please proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Vomit

loganmedrano's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

lailybibliography's review

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Arqsarniq. I sing for you. Humming shakily at first, thin tendrils of sound. The trepidation dissolves and a throbbing vibratory expulsion of sound emerges. Thicker, richer, heavier. Sound is its own currency. Sound is a conduit to a realm we cannot totally comprehend. 

Devastating, powerful, heartbreaking. I’m genuinely at a loss for words at the horrific beauty of Tanya Tagaq’s Nunavut and the near-mythic, brutal nature of life in the Great North. Humanity stripped to its barest essence, Tagaq describes a world where the material and spiritual coexist in violent harmony; where the Northern Lights are an everyday occurrence intervening in the lives of those living underneath its luminescence. One where the frigid cold and perpetual winter darkness renders lays bare the dispassionate, carnivorous soul of humankind fighting for its survival against foxes and bears and other assorted creatures all desperate to scratch out a sliver of an existence in an unforgiving environment.

The life Tagaq describes would be unbelievable to anybody living outside the Arctic circle. There’s a general air of chaos and danger permeating even the simplest of events. There’s no pretence of innocent to shield children from the cruelties of adulthood. Alcoholism and substance abuse runs rampant, and sexual abuse of children is so prevalent that Tagaq feels insecure when schoolteachers molest her some female classmates before her. There’s a definite whiplash that comes with reading about, say, institutionalized sexual abuse of children, then immediately moving on to visions of ancient folklore rendered in aurorae and astral projections with ancestors and descendants across time.

I could honestly go on and on raving about the gorgeous prose and heart-pounding narrative Tagaq weaves here. This should be considered a modern Canadian classic, required reading in our high school and university curricula. My favourite read of 2024 so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Minor: Genocide and Colonisation

birdsandships's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Such a challenging, gut wrenching book. Disorienting, disturbing, enchanting magical realism. The audio book adds a lot to the experience as Tagaq reads it herself with interludes of throat singing. Very non-linear. One that is going to stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

laurenmiller100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.75

“Fear is learning to run from me. Not the other way around.”

Someone on Goodreads called this book the thorniest of roses, and I have to agree. As others have mentioned, big time trigger warnings on this. It’s vulgar, disturbing, beautiful, brutal, mysterious, magical, and deeply upsetting. Definitely a unique read, but one that I struggled with because the content is so difficult. The plot can be winding, vague, and hard to follow because it’s written as poetry. I don’t have much of a mind for poetry even though I love it, so I don’t know that I really followed all the events of this story. That said, what did make a huge impact on me is the feeling that Tagaq is trying to get across. The ending is beautiful and horrible. Tragic and disquieting. I am glad I read it, and I hope to never read it again.

“We are reverberations of our ancestors and songs of our present selves. It is very quiet in the future as it is in the deep past. The quiet. We always live among the dead. It’s scary but the quiet is our true home. This is why we must make the most of our gristle and meat. We must celebrate being harnessed into our bodies. We are a product of the immense torque that propels this universe. We are not individuals but an accumulation of all that lived before.”

• Characters: 6
• Atmosphere/Setting: 10
• Writing Style: 8
• Plot: 7
• Intrigue: 8
• Logic/Relationships: 4
• Enjoyment: 2

6.2/10 = 3.75 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Descriptions are extremely graphic and disturbing.

kodi_rae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Part autobiography, part narrative fiction, part magical realism, etc. with some tough themes about SA, trauma, etc. One of the things that makes “Split Tooth” beautiful is the way Tagaq talks about the environment, animal spirits, the northern lights, etc. and how it ties into the narrative and cultural beliefs and practices. I read in other reviews that if you listen to the audiobook she narrates it herself and incorporates throat singing between each section which I imagine would lend itself to a whole new, raw experience. I think it would be worth revisiting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Terminal illness

livelaughlesbian99's review against another edition

5.0

Read the audiobook with Tanya Tagaq as narrator. She is FANTASTIC.

This book is INCREDIBLY dark. If there is ANYTHING that will cause you severe distress while reading I recommend reviewing content warnings online… there are a lot which apply here. Split Tooth doesn’t shy away from the disgusting or the horrifying. There is a lot of abuse happening. However, Split Tooth also captures the beauty of the arctic and folkloric fantasy. I really enjoyed it. I’m disappointed it’s Tanya Tagaq’s only book!

If you read meet the story on its own terms. It has lots to say.


CW: Includes light spoilers. Specifics to help you prepare if you’re concerned. I have accurately tagged in my review below every content warning which applies to the text. There are more than pop up on the general page!

Most graphic stuff: pedophile teacher committing assault, one graphic rape scene, sex happening with child in the room, infanticide, forced pregnancy, a lot of details about pregnancy, hunting causing animal death, children witnessing domestic abuse, self harm via cutting, suicidal ideation and attempt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Murder

adryonsk's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence