A review by venatrix
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was a lot, but it was wonderfully written. We follow an autism coded, trans man in Victorian England as he is committed to a special finishing school/sanitarium for sick women. Women whose sickness includes lesbianism or being feminists. They are committed to be made into the "perfect wife" because of their value as breeding stock in their ability to interact with the dead - an ability that is denied to them due to their sex.
It was brutal, but glimmers of hope were found in unexpected places to keep us, and the MC, going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, and Abortion

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Medical trauma

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

The MC does think things as a surgeon, very anatomical and descriptive - even when there may be no injury related to the thought processes.