Reviews with content warning for Torture - You Feel It Just Below the Ribs

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

22 reviews

abookwithreview's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Actual rating for this book is 4.5 stars.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and honestly I wish I could hear it for the first time again. I found it by using shuffle mode on Libby and had absolutely NO idea what it was about upon starting. I'm so glad I did though.

Unlike most dystopian novels, this one is not during the unquestioning after a society has been set up but instead in the before and during (mostly). We are allowed a front row seat to how this alternate timeline ended up where they did, with glimpses of how people are propagandized throughout.

A mid paced story with a haunting LGBTQ+ romance, this book was close to perfect.

Content Warnings

kb_icarus3's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

spacecars's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

The premise of this book is so fascinating! This is a speculative dystopian fiction where a manuscript written by a prominent figure was discovered and published into this book by this publisher'; the author is a doctor who was instrumental to the rebuilding of the world after a decades-long war, and in this 'memoir' she details her life and how she became who she is today.

The book includes interludes written by the publisher, who wants to support free speech by publishing this and availing it to a limited number of discerning readers, as well as footnotes for the research and verifications they did on the revelations in the manuscript while they were putting this memoir together.

The pace is a little slow and the ending was a little too abrupt, but the idea of an unreliable narrator is extremely interesting. I went in feeling sad for the author, and in the midst of it I started questioning whether she's telling the truth since the footnotes indicate otherwise, but then at the end I realise that I can't trust both the author and the publisher because they each have their own agendas.

The idea of accuracy and reliability at play is very unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed this writing style. I don’t even read speculative/dystopian fiction (never my first choice), but I’m glad I picked this up after reading the synopsis as this was really good!

Content Warnings

ezrareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

indiarose8's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall I loved the story and premise. However it moves quite slowly from the beginning through the middle. It only really picks up three quarters of the way through but once it does, it's compelling!

Really well written and gripping at the end.

Content Warnings

cheye13's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

jazhandz's review

Go to review page

challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

fungivibes's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

breq's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Terrifying and fascinating, and kept me guessing if it was an unreliable narrator, an unreliable annotator, both, or neither. I love this style of fake history/memoir with multiple people contributing. I choose to believe that

the publisher/annotator's constant reinforcement that this is fake and made up and of COURSE defamatory and NO ONE should believe this is in fact a complete CYA and they in fact agree in many places with the narrator.

Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

For fans of the podcast, Within the Wires, this book is for you. There’s so much more worldbuilding that will satisfy your needs to have more of this universe. A side note: I haven’t listened to the audiobook, but that that might be worth checking out to continue the audio drama experience— You technically don’t have to know anything about the podcast to enjoy this book, though more on this towards the end.

YFIJBTR is thought-provoking with the way it poses philosophical questions that border on the existential. More interestingly, though, is the way this story is narrated not by one but two narrators. And it’s here that you get into the heart of what this book is asking you to decide: How do you determine who to believe?

The book is an autobiography of our protagonist, Dr. Miriam Gregory, who guides the reader through her life and what’s happening in the increasingly dystopian world she lives in. Curiously, this autobiography has footnotes and interludes that counter much of what Dr. Gregory is writing, going so far as to accuse her of falsifying information or showing blatant ignorance. As the autobiography continues, this meta-narrator in the footnotes gets increasingly hostile towards Dr. Gregory, putting the reader in a position of working out whether they should believe the footnotes (which have been providing seemingly factual information), or Dr. Gregory’s account, who was present at these events.

I will say that I thought the pacing was a little wonky. It started off slow, found a good pace towards the middle, but then felt a little too fast towards the end. I think this might be especially off-putting for those who aren’t familiar with the podcast universe, just because more and more concepts were introduced towards the end that weren’t fully explained. Again, you can technically read this book without any knowledge of the WtW universe, but I can easily see why those unfamiliar with the podcast may find this book somewhat frustrating.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I approached the book having listened to the podcast. The book is still worth checking out, especially for its approach to storytelling, but I do caution those unfamiliar with the podcast that it might be a little harder to fully enjoy it.

Content Warnings

More...