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liznt's review
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Pretty weird book. The style is bold. It has some interesting insights. Feels kinda incomplete but maybe that's the point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Physical abuse
Moderate: Rape
gondorgirl's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Gaslighting, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
euphemiajo's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Death, Violence, and Bullying
Minor: Blood, Cancer, and Abandonment
benchtuna's review
4.5
it's about hope and it's different kinds and how some kinds will destroy you more than help you. it's about greed and how we know nothing and own nothing and how nothing matters. it's about being alive, being with and being able to have choices. just an interesting, unique view on an apocalypse and what it means to feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Hate crime, Abandonment, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty
thoughtsontomes's review
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I actually wasn't expecting to like this, because I traditionally haven't gotten on with Valente's other work, but I was pleasantly surprised by this. I listened to the audio, which I think helped, but I do wish the narrator had made the MC's voice age with time since we follow her up into adulthood and she sounds like a child the whole time. This was an interesting climate change sci-fi that leans into some of the ridiculousness of people living on a pile of garbage in the ocean while really painting a complex world. This is mostly us following our MC and being in her head, so it's less action based and the resolution may feel unsatisfying. But that's great about her is her hopefulness in the face of everything, which I'd say is a good trait for a character in a climate change novel, especially during out current times when people get very nihilist about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Bullying
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
maryellen's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse and Injury/Injury detail
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
THE PAST IS RED follows Tetley, first a child then an adult in Garbagetown, the floating raft of trash from the long-deceased Fuckwits who wrecked the planet and died long ago when the waters rose.
It's made of repurposed jargon, vibes, and fridge horror, which makes it hard to describe but excellent to read. Tetley is hated by everyone she knows at home because of something she does partway through the book. This greatly reduces the number of relationships to keep track of, but also turns every interaction into a chance for someone to hurt her and to feel justified according to the rules. Her main relationships are with Big Red and Goodnight Moon. The narrative is told out of order, which means that the effects of that one action play out through the entire story, first as foreshadowing of the event and then reflecting on it.
The worldbuilding is conveyed through a mix of direct explanations from Tetley and the strange gaps between what those things are now in reality versus what they are to her in Garbagetown. Every time she explains something there’s a dissonance between my understanding of the objects or concepts involved and what she says about them, and that dissonance fleshes out the world.
The plot was a bit hard to follow, as it bounces around between Tetley thinking to herself, actually doing things, or talking to someone about what happened. There’s a small moment towards the end which changed my understanding of a lot of sections from earlier, and another which implied the origin of a strange but important phrase. I think this will make a lot more sense when I re-read it, but I’m fine being confused for a while if the payoff is worth it. This time, it definitely is. The ending is my favorite part, with a twist in understanding that is beautiful handled.
It's made of repurposed jargon, vibes, and fridge horror, which makes it hard to describe but excellent to read. Tetley is hated by everyone she knows at home because of something she does partway through the book. This greatly reduces the number of relationships to keep track of, but also turns every interaction into a chance for someone to hurt her and to feel justified according to the rules. Her main relationships are with Big Red and Goodnight Moon. The narrative is told out of order, which means that the effects of that one action play out through the entire story, first as foreshadowing of the event and then reflecting on it.
The worldbuilding is conveyed through a mix of direct explanations from Tetley and the strange gaps between what those things are now in reality versus what they are to her in Garbagetown. Every time she explains something there’s a dissonance between my understanding of the objects or concepts involved and what she says about them, and that dissonance fleshes out the world.
The plot was a bit hard to follow, as it bounces around between Tetley thinking to herself, actually doing things, or talking to someone about what happened. There’s a small moment towards the end which changed my understanding of a lot of sections from earlier, and another which implied the origin of a strange but important phrase. I think this will make a lot more sense when I re-read it, but I’m fine being confused for a while if the payoff is worth it. This time, it definitely is. The ending is my favorite part, with a twist in understanding that is beautiful handled.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Torture, Cursing, and Bullying
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Animal death
aardwyrm's review
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Stylized, surrealist weirdness makes excellent set-dressing for the relentlessly serious. Nothing about the novella makes anything like sense, but it's very pretty and at the same time gruesome, which is the best kind of pretty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infertility, and Mental illness
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