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A review by jolietjane
To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger
4.0
3.5 stars
To Be Devoured is a 130 page queer splatterpunk novella sure to please fans of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. There is a split with Splatterpunk - about half of it is focused on being gross out only. Then you have the second part of it that is a little more literary; a story to tell, an attempt to build characters to some extent to make you care about the grossness. This is what I am partial to; I need to know why the gross means something to me. I want to care about the characters the gross stuff is happening to. To be Devoured does its best to match and sell this energy.
The story revolves around a couple, Andi and Luna. Luna is a beautiful, very normal woman who left her husband to be with Andi.
Andi is a traumatized woman who has long battled mental illness. While Luna knows a little bit about this, she does not know the extent of Andis mind. She does start to realize that Andi stopped going to therapy though- and she is starting to notice her growing obsession with the macabre. Maybe what she isn't noticing is that when she's not looking, Andi can't stop putting herself in the place of the vultures that live near her home...
The book responded with me a little bit because I was in a relationship with a schizophrenic partner who refused treatment- so though some may find Andi's thought pattern unrealistic or offensive, I honestly related a little too much to it from the other side. I too was put in danger when my partner started to spiral and become violent and dangerous.
This is a story about a damaged relationship just as much as it is about a damaged person. Theres more to the story than "lady goes crazy", so if you are uncomfortable with an overall pattern of slow abuse that is birthed from self abuse: the unwillingness to treat yourself.
To Be Devoured is a 130 page queer splatterpunk novella sure to please fans of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. There is a split with Splatterpunk - about half of it is focused on being gross out only. Then you have the second part of it that is a little more literary; a story to tell, an attempt to build characters to some extent to make you care about the grossness. This is what I am partial to; I need to know why the gross means something to me. I want to care about the characters the gross stuff is happening to. To be Devoured does its best to match and sell this energy.
The story revolves around a couple, Andi and Luna. Luna is a beautiful, very normal woman who left her husband to be with Andi.
Andi is a traumatized woman who has long battled mental illness. While Luna knows a little bit about this, she does not know the extent of Andis mind. She does start to realize that Andi stopped going to therapy though- and she is starting to notice her growing obsession with the macabre. Maybe what she isn't noticing is that when she's not looking, Andi can't stop putting herself in the place of the vultures that live near her home...
The book responded with me a little bit because I was in a relationship with a schizophrenic partner who refused treatment- so though some may find Andi's thought pattern unrealistic or offensive, I honestly related a little too much to it from the other side. I too was put in danger when my partner started to spiral and become violent and dangerous.
This is a story about a damaged relationship just as much as it is about a damaged person. Theres more to the story than "lady goes crazy", so if you are uncomfortable with an overall pattern of slow abuse that is birthed from self abuse: the unwillingness to treat yourself.