Reviews with content warning for Incest - Split Tooth

Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

8 reviews

kmerrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense

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? It's complicated

5.0

No one who can listen to the audiobook should be doing anything but that. I'm sure it is an interesting read, but the audio is something other-wordly. I have never heard someone give themselves entirely to an audiobook in this way, and most if not all chapters are lead out by Tanya Tagaq's throat singing. She imbues the words with so much emotion and her tone shifts appropriately throughout. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to listen to this book read by the author.

Note: it is NSFW or literally any other environment so you want to listen with headphones on or somewhere with thick walls.

That being said, this is undoubtedly the weirdest, most fucked up thing I've ever read. And I mean that as a term of endearment. It also makes it fucking real. This writing is unapologetic. She writes in such a poetic and at times whimsical way, sometimes about truly horrific things. It is fantastical while also dealing with very hard realities like child sexual abuse, which is an overriding theme. It is extremely sexually explicit, whether detailing abuse, consensual sex, sex with animals, and even the northern lights.

If you're easily offended or squeamish, this is not the one for you, but I'd still recommend it to you because it's unforgettable.

Content Warnings

laurenmiller100's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings