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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
A very solid debut from Amy Twigg with "Spoilt Creatures". When Iris's life suddenly shudders to a halt (the break up of her long term relationship, moving back home with her mother) she finds herself stuck in a rut and longing for something different. On the recommendation of a friend she reaches out to Breach House, a commune of women in the countryside not far from where she is from. She finds herself entranced by one of the women there and soon enough life at Breach House is her whole world.
As someone who enjoys fiction with darker elements this satisfied that itch for me. I think Twigg cleverly portrays the way that power struggles can play out between women, and also what it means to be pulled into the orbit of something or someone who we willingly give our power to, not realizing in the moment the damage that it will do.
The story at times felt jilted, but I suspect that that was a deliberate move on the part of the author, in order to bring us further into how strangely life functions in the all too consuming Breach House. What happens is predictable in a lot of ways but that doesn't make what unfolds any less horrific, indeed it probably makes it more so because you can see it coming so clearly. Twigg has captured something visceral and dark that makes the reader squirm with discomfort, perhaps holding up a mirror to the parts of ourselves that we don't necessarily want to admit to.
Overall, a good debut and interesting read for the right audience.
As someone who enjoys fiction with darker elements this satisfied that itch for me. I think Twigg cleverly portrays the way that power struggles can play out between women, and also what it means to be pulled into the orbit of something or someone who we willingly give our power to, not realizing in the moment the damage that it will do.
The story at times felt jilted, but I suspect that that was a deliberate move on the part of the author, in order to bring us further into how strangely life functions in the all too consuming Breach House. What happens is predictable in a lot of ways but that doesn't make what unfolds any less horrific, indeed it probably makes it more so because you can see it coming so clearly. Twigg has captured something visceral and dark that makes the reader squirm with discomfort, perhaps holding up a mirror to the parts of ourselves that we don't necessarily want to admit to.
Overall, a good debut and interesting read for the right audience.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 ★
Everything about this story appealed to me.
Women living together: check
No men allowed: check
Free to satiate all of your apetites and desires without societal pressures: check
But the entire time, I wanted more.
“What kind of women we were. They never say us in the summer, how we dug our hands into the soil. They never saw the life we had made for ourselves.”
I was given so much detail in the way that the women lived their lives on the farm, both their duties and freedoms. But I was starving for intensity. These women seemed in a daze, lacking in deep emotions, all-consuming conversations of life and womanness. I expected full moon dances and menstrual blood seeping into the grass but these women were happy just lazing around all day.
Spoilt: to diminish or destroy the value or quality of.
They are spoilt creatures. We could have experienced the oneness of this female community and who women truly are when they are alone and empowered by other women.
But these characters are boring, greedy and lazy.
“Knowing that I couldn’t say no, that I would do whatever it took to stay. The same instinct that drove you further inside the house instead of running far away.”
I liked that the story was paralleled with scary movies. How as viewers, we are able to anticipate the horrors that will inevitably happen. I noticed the foreshadowing and metaphors within that gave me an uneasy hint of what’s to come but unfortunately, I don’t feel fully satisfied with what I thought were going to be the horrors of the book. The very slow, drawn out pace gave me high expectations for the climax that should have happened sooner and been more.. I don’t know. Full?
“we were not considered sweet baby angels. No, we were something else. Bad women, disturbed women; psycho bitches.”
Don’t get me wrong, I ate it up. I enjoyed it but I expected more.
“Feral. That was how they liked to imagine us best. Unhinged from societal norms, obscene in our habits. It made them feel better. To think of us as something feral.”
Everything about this story appealed to me.
Women living together: check
No men allowed: check
Free to satiate all of your apetites and desires without societal pressures: check
But the entire time, I wanted more.
“What kind of women we were. They never say us in the summer, how we dug our hands into the soil. They never saw the life we had made for ourselves.”
I was given so much detail in the way that the women lived their lives on the farm, both their duties and freedoms. But I was starving for intensity. These women seemed in a daze, lacking in deep emotions, all-consuming conversations of life and womanness. I expected full moon dances and menstrual blood seeping into the grass but these women were happy just lazing around all day.
Spoilt: to diminish or destroy the value or quality of.
They are spoilt creatures. We could have experienced the oneness of this female community and who women truly are when they are alone and empowered by other women.
But these characters are boring, greedy and lazy.
“Knowing that I couldn’t say no, that I would do whatever it took to stay. The same instinct that drove you further inside the house instead of running far away.”
I liked that the story was paralleled with scary movies. How as viewers, we are able to anticipate the horrors that will inevitably happen. I noticed the foreshadowing and metaphors within that gave me an uneasy hint of what’s to come but unfortunately, I don’t feel fully satisfied with what I thought were going to be the horrors of the book. The very slow, drawn out pace gave me high expectations for the climax that should have happened sooner and been more.. I don’t know. Full?
“we were not considered sweet baby angels. No, we were something else. Bad women, disturbed women; psycho bitches.”
Don’t get me wrong, I ate it up. I enjoyed it but I expected more.
“Feral. That was how they liked to imagine us best. Unhinged from societal norms, obscene in our habits. It made them feel better. To think of us as something feral.”
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes