A review by flyawaytruelove
Girls Against God by Jenny Hval

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Hval has a horrifyingly amazing talent with description of blood, viscera, hate, and bodily functions. It was described so well that I could reach out and touch it in my mind's eye. There was never a moment where I didn't feel strongly one way or another.

That being said... I don't think I was the target audience. The first half of the book hooked me well. I sympathized with growing up in a community heavily influenced by themes of God, purity, and the pure suffocation that entails. Then by the second half, I found myself straying away. It describes a different kind of hate from the one I personally know, a hate louder and more vicious that demands to dig up the antithesis of 1990s puritan Norway. Also the scat imagery caught me by surprise. 

"Shit is the root of capitalism." And boy, I did not expect pages later for characters to start flinging feces(?) around?

It's intense. It's experimental. It's dark. There's nothing wrong with taking a chance with this book since I don't think it's badly written at all. But to me, it was alright even though there were a few times where I just... wanted to stop reading it.
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