michloue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexism, Gore, and Excrement
jonathan14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Despite trying to satirise pretentious wannabe artists and the camp of 80’s horror cinema, this book fails to garner any genuine interest in an actual narrative outside of exhaustingly dull adolescent dialogue and needlessly ostentatious gore descriptions. No one character here is truly interesting, let alone likeable; all are cookie cutter archetypes with undeveloped prose in lieu of personalities to fill the pages.
Spoiler
Without actually expanding or exploring the concept of a character like Claire and her potential narrative value – the terror of being an abandoned and abused child with an apparently alcoholic father who has a sexual interest in his own daughter and enacts violence towards her, the Claire character barely lasts five pages before a brutal death that doesn’t actually leave an effect upon the reader because the simple fact of the matter is: no one cares.Spoiler
This is not a love letter to a diverse and fascinating genre like horror. It is a lazy, half-hearted attempt at satirising a genuinely interesting subdivision of horror that Sodergren proudly describes as “trashy” – going beyond the pale of blatant ignorance and nose-diving directly into abject, unnecessary and unsolicited mockery.
In his afterword, the same segment of the novel where the flippant “trashy” judgement is found, Sodergren also writes “if I’m starting to sound like Robert Crawford[…]” which is where I’d prefer to stop quoting him. This pretentious screed, this book I dare to call it even thought I instinctively don’t want to because that is seriously an insult to every other book I’ve ever read, is exactly what I would expect from that archetypal shadow of a character. The irony is beyond frustrating.
Spoiler
I’d like to keep this review brief because this book has wasted enough of my time and energy, so the last thing I’ll mention is this exchange between Sandy (the love interest of the protagonist) and Gordon (a character who’s only service to the narrative is that he’s one of the only male characters that doesn’t erect any obvious signs of bigotry or exploitive tendencies (I won’t make a ‘not all men’ criticism, even though that is the impression Sodergren implies with the use of this character) who also happens to have a crush on the unavailable lesbian main character) that genuinely enraged me – for both its motivations behind the exchange and obvious ignorance and flippant attitude of the writer behind it.Spoiler
I finish off with this, because truthfully I am tired of this novel taking up any more of my time: do not waste yours with it.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Torture, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Death, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Murder, Sexism, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Pedophilia, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Infidelity
This is the most lesbophobic book I’ve ever read, which makes it doubly frustrating that it masquerades as a progressive feminist narrative. It’s not. This is an objectively bad novel.cammaleahh's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Body horror
sylvestra's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Child death
booshy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Body horror, and Sexual violence