A review by readingvicariously
The Body Will Follow by Rob E. Boley
3.0
The premise of this book hooked me very early on. The main character Carrie's POV of being possessed, what the ghosts were using her for, her sense of helplessness and fear - all of it is frightening and interesting. I haven't read a lot of books where the perspective is that of the person being possessed, so I found it to be pretty engaging. There were other ideas/situations that I also liked: the ghosts completely wrecking Carrie's life so that even when she is free of them she still has very real problems to deal with; the presence of other friendlier spirits, and the ways in which they can and can't interact with the world; sometimes even Daniel, and the dark humor they share together. There's definitely a lot to like here and some neat ideas. I also thought the writing was very good for the most part. Unfortunately, the aspects I enjoyed were burdened by several things I didn't care for.
I get the ghosts are using Carrie to fulfil their bodily desires, but the amount of sex and bodily fluids made me a little uncomfortable. Especially considering Carrie's helplessness in all of it, it just comes across as icky (and not in a good way). There's a lot of abuse, in many forms, to the female body and I wasn't crazy about it. And this may sound wrong after saying all that, but I didn't really connect at all with Carrie. I certainly sympathized with all the horrible things happening to her, but apart from that the other aspects of her life and personality felt flat. I certainly don't understand her relationship with Daniel, and the mystery element thrown in at the very end was a little strange.
I get the ghosts are using Carrie to fulfil their bodily desires, but the amount of sex and bodily fluids made me a little uncomfortable. Especially considering Carrie's helplessness in all of it, it just comes across as icky (and not in a good way). There's a lot of abuse, in many forms, to the female body and I wasn't crazy about it. And this may sound wrong after saying all that, but I didn't really connect at all with Carrie. I certainly sympathized with all the horrible things happening to her, but apart from that the other aspects of her life and personality felt flat. I certainly don't understand her relationship with Daniel, and the mystery element thrown in at the very end was a little strange.