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ecn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The ending also seemed extremely abrupt. Too much was trying to be resolved in a matter of DAYS and the characters glossed over so much and so much was implied that it seemed impossible and unrealistic for them to be how things would unfold.
This book had so much promise but ended up falling so flat. I wanted more for and of every character but wasn’t given a fraction (felt very indicative of how they were treated I’m sure - maybe it’s stylistic).
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
darkmattersoybean's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
kyrad4983's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
As many other reviews have mentioned - this book is not for the faint of heart. I felt nauseated, dreadful, disgusted - while the taxidermy scenes were difficult to stomach at times it was the raw chicken cooking scenes that broke me. I wanted to scream “WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS OH MY GOD” Babes - everyone in this narrative is getting salmonella. The text oozes with grime, artfully mirroring the nasty coils of grief entangling this family. However, in the book’s attempts to raise the stakes on the gross, it runs out of steam handling the implications of said actions.kinomatica's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer
frecca95's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia
himboluvr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
kry_yang's review
- 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
4.0
I've been sitting here for a hot second, trying to formulate my thoughts on this book.
I knew of Kristen Arnett from her short stories, and I was really drawn to the flamingo on the cover of this novel, so I thought, hey why not give this book a try.
Going into this novel with absolutely no idea what to expect, the whole *vibe* of this book really shook me to the core. I honestly love reading messy, gore-y, beautifully-horrific prose, and this book just gave me so much of that. This isn't an easy read (also lots of NSFW warnings for the graphic sex scenes)--there's so much deeply disturbing, gag-inducing imagery about cutting, ripping, bleeding, burning, and anything else "gross" that you can possibly imagine.
But somehow all of that disgusting imagery was... so beautiful. There's not a lot that *happens* per se in the book--it's one of those stories where not a lot happens, but the characters meditate a lot on their past/future--yet for some reason, I felt incredibly drawn towards this book. Once I got with the whole "taxidermy as a metaphor for everything that's going on in the rest of the story" vibe, I enjoyed this book immensely, and finished it quite quickly. Something about Arnett's style drew me in, and kept me hooked the entire time.
Mostly Dead Things is about grief, sex, family, and loss, packaged in lyrical descriptions of the strange and disturbing. A slow-paced read, but one that breaks your heart, makes you gag, and leaves you feeling like you just traveled to the swamps of Florida and back. Would not recommend this book to the faint of heart, but if you want to immerse yourself in a bizarre world for a couple hours, then you would love (and hate) this novel.
What an emotional rollercoaster. Maybe one of the strangest novels I've read, and I definitely have a love-hate relationship with the characters. But oh my god Arnett's style is absolutely to die for. This book scrambled my brain in a good way (I think?) so I'm not even sure how to give this a rating out of 5.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Grief
thespinystacks's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent
just_one_more_paige's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content
stayathomereader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol