A review by erinxmegan
The Body Will Follow by Rob E. Boley
1.0
*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.*
So I got about 50% into this book and just couldn’t finish it. I hardly ever DNF books, like ever. I’m just someone who thinks they have to finish a book once they start it, but I’m trying to work on that because why waste your time on a book you don’t like?
So, I didn’t like this book. It made me feel uncomfortable, and not the kind of uncomfortable that’s thought provoking or making a statement. It just made me feel weird.
The story starts off with Carrie who is possessed by, what she calls, The Wishes. With no control over her body, they force her to have sex with random people. Like a lot of people. Including: men, women, and underage teens. Carrie is then exorcised and given back control over her body, but not without consequences. The Wishes have drained her back account, ruined her house, lost her her job, ruined her relationships, and even gotten her into legal trouble. With the help of Daniel, one of the men she had been forced to have sex with, she starts trying to piece her life together.
I’m a big fan of possession stories, I find them to be fascinating and I really thought this one was going to be a fresh outlook on the trope given the plot.
I like the idea that the majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the possession. It’s not something I’ve seen and I think it could’ve been done really well, but it’s just the beginning of the book that ruined everything for me.
I found the first few chapters to come across very insensitive and off putting. I really don’t know why the possession had to be centered around rape. I’m not opposed to triggering ideas being written into books, but there needs to be a purpose for it. This felt like rape for no reason or purpose. If the rape had been exchanged for something else, I think it would’ve had the same, or even better, affect.
It also put me off that there had been non consensual sex with minors. It was all just too much for me.
I wanted to give the book a fair chance, so I kept reading, but I just couldn’t get into it. I think the rape had just really left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, I’m not going to tell someone what they can or can’t write about, horror is horror and authors should be allowed to write what they want. However, it should be handled with sensitivity and carefulness. This didn’t feel like that. As a woman, I just couldn’t stomach this and I don’t know if the author spoke to any women or let them read this beforehand. If not, it’s something I would highly encourage them to do in the future. Male authors who write sensitive topics from the perspective of women need to be talking to women. If they don’t, it comes across very poorly and uneducated.
I’m sure there will be people who don’t feel the same way, but this is just my personal opinion on this book and how it made me feel while reading it.
So I got about 50% into this book and just couldn’t finish it. I hardly ever DNF books, like ever. I’m just someone who thinks they have to finish a book once they start it, but I’m trying to work on that because why waste your time on a book you don’t like?
So, I didn’t like this book. It made me feel uncomfortable, and not the kind of uncomfortable that’s thought provoking or making a statement. It just made me feel weird.
The story starts off with Carrie who is possessed by, what she calls, The Wishes. With no control over her body, they force her to have sex with random people. Like a lot of people. Including: men, women, and underage teens. Carrie is then exorcised and given back control over her body, but not without consequences. The Wishes have drained her back account, ruined her house, lost her her job, ruined her relationships, and even gotten her into legal trouble. With the help of Daniel, one of the men she had been forced to have sex with, she starts trying to piece her life together.
I’m a big fan of possession stories, I find them to be fascinating and I really thought this one was going to be a fresh outlook on the trope given the plot.
I like the idea that the majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the possession. It’s not something I’ve seen and I think it could’ve been done really well, but it’s just the beginning of the book that ruined everything for me.
I found the first few chapters to come across very insensitive and off putting. I really don’t know why the possession had to be centered around rape. I’m not opposed to triggering ideas being written into books, but there needs to be a purpose for it. This felt like rape for no reason or purpose. If the rape had been exchanged for something else, I think it would’ve had the same, or even better, affect.
It also put me off that there had been non consensual sex with minors. It was all just too much for me.
I wanted to give the book a fair chance, so I kept reading, but I just couldn’t get into it. I think the rape had just really left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, I’m not going to tell someone what they can or can’t write about, horror is horror and authors should be allowed to write what they want. However, it should be handled with sensitivity and carefulness. This didn’t feel like that. As a woman, I just couldn’t stomach this and I don’t know if the author spoke to any women or let them read this beforehand. If not, it’s something I would highly encourage them to do in the future. Male authors who write sensitive topics from the perspective of women need to be talking to women. If they don’t, it comes across very poorly and uneducated.
I’m sure there will be people who don’t feel the same way, but this is just my personal opinion on this book and how it made me feel while reading it.