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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
unflinching look at abuse and violence, with a narrator who doesn't care to be repulsed by her inner darkness, only hides it for the sake of other people
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The way that Kolesnik writes about sexual abuse and the trauma that follows is really remarkable. I hope someday she will release this book again and write again, because she’s so talented.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury
dark
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty
I liked the first half a lot more. The 2nd half could’ve been shorter and I would’ve liked to see Suzy go off the deep end when Lim was announced to have died.
A great horror novella. It switches gears and stays interesting throughout. It's the story of Suzy, a young, abused, and unloved girl who gets in trouble and hits the road with her giant brother Lim.
"Like all good monsters, I cam not by force, but by invitation."
I'm not really sure where to start with this review because this book just socks you in the gut and takes no prisoners. This was hard to read for a lot of reasons. Mostly because after years of abuse and rape, Suzy has a harsh and cruel way of looking at the world. Nearly all of her emotions have been stripped away from her, and she's left in this place of knowing how to survive but not sure she should. Somehow this book is as haunting as it is horrid, and that speaks a lot about Samantha Kolsnik's writing ability.
Before going any further, this book does contain talk of rape, though nothing graphic, but it is heavily mentioned and talked about. There is a lot of violence and honestly just all the trigger warnings for this one. It's a lot. Even though it's a novella I couldn't read this in one sitting. In fact, it took me three days because I needed to walk away from this book.
The story follows Suzy and is told from her point of view. So we see the world through her eyes, and that is really what makes this story hard to read. It lays into the nurture side of how people become criminals. How what happened to her desensitized Suzy to the world around, to kindness, and hope. How it warped the way she sees and categorizes people. And despite how many "good" people are put in her path to help her, she closes the door every time.
Though, you do see her learn, even if it is the wrong lesson. You see the women Suzy is bound to turn into because of this and it is heartbreaking. This isn't a book I can ever tell people I liked, but it was an interesting read. It's a book that will stick with me for a long time.
I couldn't give this book five stars because I've been waffling about whether it was a good thing this book was short, or if it really needed to be longer. There was a part of me that wanted a bit more to the story because parts were vague after they get caught, and from one chapter to the next Suzy changes. And you do learn that time has passed, but your left wondering how she came to with her foster parents.
On the other hand, there is a lot to this book and it's not easy to read. So I was kind of glad that it was shorter. I'm not sure I would have made it through more pages told from Suzy's point of view.
I also felt it was fitting that there was an open ending. While I wished Suzy had stayed, I wasn't shocked that she was running again. The question, in the end, was how many more people were going to die now that she was on her own.
I'm not really sure where to start with this review because this book just socks you in the gut and takes no prisoners. This was hard to read for a lot of reasons. Mostly because after years of abuse and rape, Suzy has a harsh and cruel way of looking at the world. Nearly all of her emotions have been stripped away from her, and she's left in this place of knowing how to survive but not sure she should. Somehow this book is as haunting as it is horrid, and that speaks a lot about Samantha Kolsnik's writing ability.
Before going any further, this book does contain talk of rape, though nothing graphic, but it is heavily mentioned and talked about. There is a lot of violence and honestly just all the trigger warnings for this one. It's a lot. Even though it's a novella I couldn't read this in one sitting. In fact, it took me three days because I needed to walk away from this book.
The story follows Suzy and is told from her point of view. So we see the world through her eyes, and that is really what makes this story hard to read. It lays into the nurture side of how people become criminals. How what happened to her desensitized Suzy to the world around, to kindness, and hope. How it warped the way she sees and categorizes people. And despite how many "good" people are put in her path to help her, she closes the door every time.
Though, you do see her learn, even if it is the wrong lesson. You see the women Suzy is bound to turn into because of this and it is heartbreaking. This isn't a book I can ever tell people I liked, but it was an interesting read. It's a book that will stick with me for a long time.
I couldn't give this book five stars because I've been waffling about whether it was a good thing this book was short, or if it really needed to be longer. There was a part of me that wanted a bit more to the story because parts were vague after they get caught, and from one chapter to the next Suzy changes. And you do learn that time has passed, but your left wondering how she came to with her foster parents.
On the other hand, there is a lot to this book and it's not easy to read. So I was kind of glad that it was shorter. I'm not sure I would have made it through more pages told from Suzy's point of view.
I also felt it was fitting that there was an open ending. While I wished Suzy had stayed, I wasn't shocked that she was running again. The question, in the end, was how many more people were going to die now that she was on her own.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
dark
A short, viciously dark, bad-guys-win novella. I appreciated the fact that this small story focussed on abusive mothers, as women abusers are not often spotlit or shown - and this mother was especially a sickening (yet realistic) piece of work. A tragic story about trauma, and how it can shape people into something irredeemable, and the beliefs people carry about themselves in the wake of abuse. This is not a happy book, there is no redemption arc, it's darkness and pain all the way down.