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aromarrie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sci-fi horror at its finest.
the thing i love the most about the story is that it really felt like it was written in dual pov….you didn’t just get sean’s perspective, but also the wolf that’s so pivotal to this research study that’s being done.
the combination of invasive technology and vivid descriptions of the cold & barren woods through another species’ eyes added to the surreal atmosphere, i feel.
the thing i love the most about the story is that it really felt like it was written in dual pov….you didn’t just get sean’s perspective, but also the wolf that’s so pivotal to this research study that’s being done.
the combination of invasive technology and vivid descriptions of the cold & barren woods through another species’ eyes added to the surreal atmosphere, i feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity and Sexism
readingpicnic's review against another edition
3.75
Failing sapphic marriages in books make me sooo sad (similar to Our Wives Under the Sea). This story posed very interesting questions about ethics, conservation, and intimacy. The main character was genuinely so morally gray, and I did NOT support most of her behaviors, but my discomfort and disgust with her actions and thoughts also intrigued me. You can see her growth throughout the story as she learns the cost of her selfishness with her work project and her ambivalence towards and unappreciation of her wife. Their relationship was so complicated but felt very real. It gave me hope that after everything, they were still working on it, even though they had both made mistakes and had miscommunications. The wolf scenes were so visceral and strange, but also cool. I could definitely see this type of scenario posed by the book taking place in real life where a big corporation funds something like this in order to monetize it to the masses as a VR experience. What a trip.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Sexism
Minor: Racism
charlotteer's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The writing style felt almost lyrical to begin with but towards the middle/end it became more repetitive, with the same words or a similar description used noticeably more than once or twice.
The plot was interesting and was explored well in its 105 pages but I felt as if it fell short of a few expectations and was a little lack-lustre because of this.
Overall, a little too monotonous for me but I did enjoy reading it!
The plot was interesting and was explored well in its 105 pages but I felt as if it fell short of a few expectations and was a little lack-lustre because of this.
Overall, a little too monotonous for me but I did enjoy reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Medical content
Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Animal death, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Sexism, Racism, and Alcohol
blacksphinx's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
First of all, this is NOT a horror novella and I'm not sure why it keeps winding up on lists of horror stories. It is a sci-fi novella focused around a failing marriage between two academics and a research project where our narrator gets to experience what it's like to be a wolf.
Despite not being horror, I think if you liked Our Wives Under The Sea you might like this. It's a different take on "failing sapphic marriage," if you can handle a narrator who is a self-centered racist dick.
Despite not being horror, I think if you liked Our Wives Under The Sea you might like this. It's a different take on "failing sapphic marriage," if you can handle a narrator who is a self-centered racist dick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexual content, Animal death, Medical content, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, Grief, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death
chris_reads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Medical content, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Medical trauma and Blood
eegekay's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, Animal death, and Medical content
marleywrites's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This book was filled with tension, and the level of familial bonding Sean felt with Kate (her wolf) was quite intense. It was really fascinating to witness Sean approaching Kate— I felt my heart racing right along hers. I found that I wanted Sean’s imagined connection to be as real as she believed it to be. It broke my heart to read Sean longing for the intimacy of a pack; Mandelo described the multifaceted family dynamics beautifully. The parallels drawn between Sean seeking relationships with her wolves and her own failing romantic relationship were striking, and I could feel the pain Sean was experiencing deeply. Overall, I rated this book five stars because it captured the emotional turmoil of wanting to belong to something bigger than you can ever imagine perfectly. The angst and desperation Sean felt was gnawing at me too. Now I’m going to have to give Mandelo’s other works a shot!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Medical content and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
caidyn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a hard book to rate and review. It's so reflective and it's a huge product of the first wave of the pandemic. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this book. It's well-written and so complex for what a short story it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Animal death
Moderate: Infidelity
booksthatburn's review
challenging
reflective
tense
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
FEED THEM SILENCE is the story of Sean, an academic researcher trying to gain a sense of intimacy in her own life through a technologically assisted neurological interface connecting her to a wolf, rather than nurturing intimacy and connection with the humans in her life (such as her wife). She feels deeply connected to the wolf she’s studying. Part of this is through anthropomorphizing the wolf with the assistance of the technology that maps the words, thoughts, emotions, and perceptions onto her own, human brain. She specifically thinks of this as not anthropomorphizing, and I’m not quite sure how literally to believe that in the story, especially when it’s about how her obsession with treating this as the most important relationship in her life leads her down a path where the being she feels most connected to is one that is likely unaware of her presence. To whatever extent the wolf ("Kate") knows of her, it is as a blurry memory of kidnapping and pain when the other terminal of the neural interface was implanted.
At home, Sean's wife is feeling disregarded and unloved, like Sean just wants her there to cook and clean. They’re both academics with their own careers, but one of Riya's complaints is the way that Sean is behaving like a white man who just wants a housewife. Riya has put her own desires aside for a long time because of the demands of Sean's research and academic schedule, but as their relationship deteriorates, Riya tries to get Sean to initiate connection, or at least reciprocate it. But she feels like an ancillary note to Sean's research, research that she feels has massive ethical concerns. Sean’s thoughts are consumed by her work, it seems as though she’s been obsessed with this idea for a very long time. Then the reality of it, and whatever is going on with the neural link, has turned it from a dream into an obsession that is distorting her ability to put care into other parts of her life for any significant stretch of time.
There’s an ongoing question about whether what is happening is cruel, as there is no way for the wolf to meaningfully consent to the experiment. Having tied her own brain to Kate, Sean ends up more and more torn in her thoughts, because the only way that she’s obtaining this intimacy is through what began as and continues to be a massive violation of the wolf's autonomy. Her fellow researchers see Kate and her pack as part of an experiment, having accepted that the process of observing them during a harsh winter is likely to mean watching them die. But, as she feels more connected, Sean is unable to accept this. Because her change in her stance is driven by an increasing (and one-sided) emotional bond with Kate, Sean is also unable to meaningfully articulate her changing feelings without letting on to her colleagues how much this process is affecting her.
Set in the 2030's, climate change and the associated ongoing loss of many animal species forms a backdrop to this drama, as part of the reason for this particular research is that this is the last wild wolf pack. I’m not sure if it’s the last one in the region or the last one on Earth, but the main point is that the trajectory for the species is one of decline and impending extinction. This makes the various questions around how to study the wolf pack even more important, but whatever precise way they matter to the characters, these considerations don’t overly end up affecting the story. There wouldn’t be a book if they weren’t going to go ahead and do the research. That choice at the beginning sets many things in motion so that the environmental and ethical concerns become matters of conscience after the fact, more issues of how to gain some sense of stability, and potentially assuage any moral compunctions or lingering guilt over what happened.
I specifically enjoy this audiobook narrator’s performances, I’ve been reading a lot of them recently. I like the ending because it feels realistic for the characters without feeling inevitable. It doesn’t feel like this was the only way that things could’ve gone on every front, but there is a kind of slowly unfolding horror; realizing the way things are likely to go and seeing the characters seemingly unable to avoid it. In terms of character development, I like how the various members of Sean‘s team have different reactions to what’s going on. They’ve accepted animal death as part of their research, but seem to not be taking seriously the level of cruelty that’s involved in this particular experiment until it's already in motion and they figure out how to make some kind of peace with it.
At home, Sean's wife is feeling disregarded and unloved, like Sean just wants her there to cook and clean. They’re both academics with their own careers, but one of Riya's complaints is the way that Sean is behaving like a white man who just wants a housewife. Riya has put her own desires aside for a long time because of the demands of Sean's research and academic schedule, but as their relationship deteriorates, Riya tries to get Sean to initiate connection, or at least reciprocate it. But she feels like an ancillary note to Sean's research, research that she feels has massive ethical concerns. Sean’s thoughts are consumed by her work, it seems as though she’s been obsessed with this idea for a very long time. Then the reality of it, and whatever is going on with the neural link, has turned it from a dream into an obsession that is distorting her ability to put care into other parts of her life for any significant stretch of time.
There’s an ongoing question about whether what is happening is cruel, as there is no way for the wolf to meaningfully consent to the experiment. Having tied her own brain to Kate, Sean ends up more and more torn in her thoughts, because the only way that she’s obtaining this intimacy is through what began as and continues to be a massive violation of the wolf's autonomy. Her fellow researchers see Kate and her pack as part of an experiment, having accepted that the process of observing them during a harsh winter is likely to mean watching them die. But, as she feels more connected, Sean is unable to accept this. Because her change in her stance is driven by an increasing (and one-sided) emotional bond with Kate, Sean is also unable to meaningfully articulate her changing feelings without letting on to her colleagues how much this process is affecting her.
Set in the 2030's, climate change and the associated ongoing loss of many animal species forms a backdrop to this drama, as part of the reason for this particular research is that this is the last wild wolf pack. I’m not sure if it’s the last one in the region or the last one on Earth, but the main point is that the trajectory for the species is one of decline and impending extinction. This makes the various questions around how to study the wolf pack even more important, but whatever precise way they matter to the characters, these considerations don’t overly end up affecting the story. There wouldn’t be a book if they weren’t going to go ahead and do the research. That choice at the beginning sets many things in motion so that the environmental and ethical concerns become matters of conscience after the fact, more issues of how to gain some sense of stability, and potentially assuage any moral compunctions or lingering guilt over what happened.
I specifically enjoy this audiobook narrator’s performances, I’ve been reading a lot of them recently. I like the ending because it feels realistic for the characters without feeling inevitable. It doesn’t feel like this was the only way that things could’ve gone on every front, but there is a kind of slowly unfolding horror; realizing the way things are likely to go and seeing the characters seemingly unable to avoid it. In terms of character development, I like how the various members of Sean‘s team have different reactions to what’s going on. They’ve accepted animal death as part of their research, but seem to not be taking seriously the level of cruelty that’s involved in this particular experiment until it's already in motion and they figure out how to make some kind of peace with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Infidelity, Cursing, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Racism
bikelpie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
A great commentary on the affects of both intentional and unintentional exploitative human nature. An analysis of the different ways a person can be selfish even in the name of selflessness, and how even the best intentions are never truly good if there is an anticipated reward. I enjoyed the almost demand for introspection after finishing the book. Very well done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, and Medical content
Minor: Medical trauma, Cursing, Confinement, Vomit, and Alcohol