Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Brutes by Dizz Tate

12 reviews

jane_moriarty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Feral Girl Summer: book edition. Do you remember the days when you ran around with a crew of kids, never anything to do, always in the way of the grown-ups and still invisible at the same time? The horizon of your neighbourhood so narrow and yet the world of the adults so mysterious? 

This book perfectly conveys the feeling of those days. It feels more like a movie (maybe a Harmony Korine one?), drifting through the setting of endless Florida summer with dark clouds gathering, seen through the collective eyes of a group of thirteen year old girls who keep a close watch on everything happening in their neighbourhood. While the girls seem to understand more about the events than the adults around them, they are at the same time cut off from forming a full picture, the way children are.

Maybe this discrepancy is the reason why it seems like the book has no plot. We are left with a hazy feeling and a vague grasp of what seems to have happened. The inbetween chapters from the girls grown-up (very depressing) perspective hardly change that. I think I would have liked less metaphors and more plot resolutions, but the descriptions of the weirdness of girlhood and the Florida Gothic Ethel Cain vibes were so so good, the writing just sucked me in. Next Dizz Tate publication will be preordered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury

brotestantethic's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Best read of the year so far. I’m not understanding why other reviews say this book doesn’t have a plot. It can be a bit confusing and separated, but there is a clear plot. Brutes is honest to the primal wants of the thirteen year old girl. I loved how the girls moved in a pack, “we” being the primary pronoun used throughout the book besides

in the characters’ future spotlights and during Jody’s assault.

The use of we and then lack thereof is central to the novel’s themes of sameness and apartness. 

This is a book about surviving written for survivors of violence. The most gutting and realistic depiction of retaliatory anger lives in

Britney’s chapter, pages 117 to 127. I was then surprised to find it was Jody in the room at the end. There’s a lot of inconsistencies like that, such as what Mia tells Christian about paying for the services, which contributes further to the morphed perspective many survivors have after an event.

 

I was not surprised to learn Tate grew up in Florida. The text reads like a conflicted love letter to her hometown. There are some truly beautiful disgusting descriptions of the Floridian landscape.

Ending will take some time to digest, for sure!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The epitome of no plot just vibes. I enjoyed the prose of this book, and the setting was very appealing to someone who loves that ‘ethel cain southern gothic’ vibe, but i was confused the entire time i was reading this and i’m not sure if it was in a good or bad way? That may have been the point of the book, that girlhood and growing up is a confusing experience, so if that’s the case then i absolutely got that, but if it wasn’t then i have no idea what the point of the story was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hoestoevsky's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

judyegallagher's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

bowelhaus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

lowkey genius. i kinda wanted more and that was really the only flaw.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

wykirsty's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Classism

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

savannnah_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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? Yes

3.75

This was a strange read because I simultaneously enjoyed the way the author describes girlhood and the experiences that seem to transcend location and background, yet I still spent most of this book very ready for it to be over. 

The story being written in first-person plural was really interesting. I’ve never read a book that utilizes that style, but it made the narrative more interesting to hear chunks of the plot from the POV of “we” and then swap to individual POVs set in the future. I think it really embodied the experience of being a young girl terrified of standing out in a bad way; just wanting to belong. 

You should read this book if you are fascinated by girlhood, repressed memories from childhood/moments from childhood we didn’t understand at the time and are still left wondering about, & tense and slightly manipulative relationships with moms. Oh, and if you enjoyed books like Bunny and Ripe. 

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“Eddie’s torso is a miracle to us. And we don’t even believe in miracles”

“We would not be born out of sweetness. We would be born out of rage.”

“We think of our mothers when we love them the most. Which is always just after we hate them the most” 

“Now I think the only way some men know how to love a woman is to humiliate her”

“People seem to see warmth in me, even when I offer none. Maybe if I was thinner, it would be easier. But it seems to me sometimes that a woman with flesh is a woman who must always be grateful. People don’t hesitate around me. I’m always being asked for favors, and causing offense when I say no.” 

“Our mothers call us brutes when they want us to feel bad. It is what they call men they do not like, like our dads”

“We felt foul and fatherly and afraid of ourselves. We tried to make ourselves small. We were coiled up, but we were not broken. And we knew our mothers’ idea of goodness was not measured by morals, but by how much noise we made. And we quickly grew tired of trying to be good in their way.”

“Leaving was glorious until I realized there was no one left to talk to about it”

“He looks like someone returning for a dinner they will not have to clean up”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

geophony's review

4.0

Still processing (it gets kind of confusing, especially towards the end) but I loved the writing style, I loved the first-person plural narration, and the motifs of stones and doors are really intriguing.

I think I like the confusion/surreality. It's the sort of book where I think I'd get a lot out of a re-read. I should have checked the content warnings before reading but that's on me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Pregnancy