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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.
I realized while reading this that I've actually read about the true story that it's based on before.
It made me feel a little weird to read a "feminist retelling" of a true event that happened to actual people. Especially when the real story already very much centers the sister's perspective instead of the guy's.
So that was a little weird, but overall I do think it's a fascinating story. But I guess I'm just not sure why it wouldn't be better to learn about the story with the original details instead of a fictionalized version.
But anyway, those are just my general feelings about fictionalized retellings of true crime. Never sure how to feel about it even when I do enjoy the actual piece of work.
The actual book was a good retelling though, I enjoyed the way it way told and the writing was very strong.
I realized while reading this that I've actually read about the true story that it's based on before.
It made me feel a little weird to read a "feminist retelling" of a true event that happened to actual people. Especially when the real story already very much centers the sister's perspective instead of the guy's.
So that was a little weird, but overall I do think it's a fascinating story. But I guess I'm just not sure why it wouldn't be better to learn about the story with the original details instead of a fictionalized version.
But anyway, those are just my general feelings about fictionalized retellings of true crime. Never sure how to feel about it even when I do enjoy the actual piece of work.
The actual book was a good retelling though, I enjoyed the way it way told and the writing was very strong.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
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:
N/A
This book was such a intense, challenging read especially the parts narrated by Wilhelm who is obviously an delusional, obsessed creep versus Gabriela who is telling her side which is more truthful of events in her and her family life , this was so fascinating as I do remember learning of the true case that inspired this and this was a great story using that and just such a ride of a read.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An ethical question about this book - as it is a fictional retelling of the real life exploitation of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, whose body was stolen and held in the home of a man obsessed with her for seven years before then being paraded around for six months to the public like a side show act after her body was recovered - is this book further romanticizing and dehumanizing her or is it giving Maria a voice and providing a message so that we as readers are better able to share HER story and not her abuser's?
First, this book was slow, disjointed, and spent an absurd amount of time overexplaining everything but I was more disturbed by the portrayal of the characters than anything else in this novel. Our female narrator, Gabriela, describes her sister Luciana as a wild young woman who was known for her beauty and rebelliousness while our male narrator, Wilhelm, describes his love of science and his unhealthy obsession with the women in his life from his grandmother to eventually Luciana in this almost lyrical way.
I was trying to understand why the author was putting so much effort into Wilhelm's narrative, the book even opens stating it's telling his story, his biography, with blurbs from Gabriela as rebuttals to his case. It took everything in me not to just put this aside and call it a day. I don't mind an unreliable or even an villainous narrator, but when the character is based on a real life monster I have some concerns. I didn't like Wilhelm, he by no means was a likeable character, but I still felt uncomfortable reading from a psychopaths point of view - knowing these events actually happened.
In the end I couldn't get over the relationship to the real life incident that inspired the book and I felt truly uneasy about Elena Milagro de Hoyos' tragedy being rewritten, yet again, with a male narrator romantasizing the story from his POV even though the author added the sister's perspective. It felt wrong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
very difficult subject but written soooo well. completely gripped and also disgusted. the afterword made me want to cry
This book in one sentence: The story of man who fancies himself a necromancer but is actually just a delusional necrophiliac.
I heard of this book in context of being Frankenstein-esque and since I've been in search for interesting Frankenstein retellings for quite some time, I thought I would give this a shot.
Fun fact, this book is actually based on a true story, that of Carl Tanzler, which made it more horrifying.
It has some beautiful lines in it. One of my favourite metaphors was this one: "I could see the chips of ivory flying off the keys and into the air, each one hanging suspended for a moment in front of my eyes, Mamá's poor piano spitting its broken teeth on the floor." (p. 36).
This book had all these gory/gruesome details that I missed in Frankenstein but lacked for me in an emotional connection. This book is split into dual POV, that of the delusional Nazi doctor and the sister of the deceased girl who were Cubans living in America, so there was potential (during the sister's chapters) to form a connection but I found it lacking somehow. I had several "What the actual fuck, dude" moments regarding some of the actions William von Tore did but that was the extend of it.
The title of the book is really awesome in my opinion, with the Greek mythology references to Orpheus who went into the underworld to retrieve Eurydice and the building girl that gives me Prometheus vibes who formed people out of clay (the original Frankenstein if you will).
I wish I enjoyed it more than it did but I'm I would rate this only 3.5 stars.
I heard of this book in context of being Frankenstein-esque and since I've been in search for interesting Frankenstein retellings for quite some time, I thought I would give this a shot.
Fun fact, this book is actually based on a true story, that of Carl Tanzler, which made it more horrifying.
It has some beautiful lines in it. One of my favourite metaphors was this one: "I could see the chips of ivory flying off the keys and into the air, each one hanging suspended for a moment in front of my eyes, Mamá's poor piano spitting its broken teeth on the floor." (p. 36).
This book had all these gory/gruesome details that I missed in Frankenstein but lacked for me in an emotional connection. This book is split into dual POV, that of the delusional Nazi doctor and the sister of the deceased girl who were Cubans living in America, so there was potential (during the sister's chapters) to form a connection but I found it lacking somehow. I had several "What the actual fuck, dude" moments regarding some of the actions William von Tore did but that was the extend of it.
The title of the book is really awesome in my opinion, with the Greek mythology references to Orpheus who went into the underworld to retrieve Eurydice and the building girl that gives me Prometheus vibes who formed people out of clay (the original Frankenstein if you will).
I wish I enjoyed it more than it did but I'm I would rate this only 3.5 stars.