Reviews

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

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archytas's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Sitting firmly in the tradition of creative prose, Tagaq spins up her world of violence and love, beauty and devastation, comfort and threat. The narrative weaves various worlds together, with stories of families and environments that paint a clear, if sometimes savage, picture of a community.

abookishlesbian's review

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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.

Content Warnings

cgcar12's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

brnnbrn's review

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5.0

heartbreaking, beautiful, poetic, hopeful, insightful. loved it.

pantoleia's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I‘ve never read anything like Split Tooth before, it was a bookstore find during my holidays in Canada. I really liked Tanya Tagaq‘s writing style, the combination of poetry, lifestory and myth was something new but quite strange at times. The combination of myth and reality was interesting, but irritating at the same time.

trve_zach's review

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This is a rough book (many editing mistakes and barely worked out metaphors/narrative), but there is something worth a look if you are more forgiving. Not really recommended unless you’re dying to read it based on the description.

erinlcrane's review against another edition

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4.0

This was really good. In the middle of reading it I looked up the author’s throat singing on Spotify, and enjoyed adding that to the experience.

I did not fully understand what I read. I’m not sure how connected this is to indigenous stories and how much is the author’s imagination. When I started it I was like, woah, this will be an experience!

It’s a mix of poetry and prose. Poetry is not my strong suit, so I enjoyed the prose more. As the story goes on it gets more and more surreal. I feel like there’s so much to mull over. The style could have tipped over into “overwrought” for me, but it didn’t. The language was pretty simple, but so much was expressed, which is my favorite kind.

I do prefer books where I have more access to a character’s internality, but that may be a Western lit bias? In any case, I think I’ll hold onto this one to potentially reread. Did not expect to like this so much!