Reviews - Howl | The StoryGraph

168 reviews for:

Howl

Shaun David Hutchinson

3.77 AVERAGE

cheffsamseyy's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bemilliebe's review against another edition

3.75

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

_forestofpages's review

4.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was not at all what I expected. If you go into this expecting Teen Wolf in Florida, you will be disappointed. However, it is a moving novel about a gay teen in a small town Florida. What you expect does happen, but it's far more nuanced and interesting than it had any right to be.

I found myself instantly drawn to the town, and somewhat painfully relating to our lead Virgil. He made mistakes and frustrated me, but he was genuine and felt like an actual teenager. I hated many of the adults in his life at first, surely do to their likeness to some of my own backwards thinking and emotionally constipated family members. I really enjoyed the character work in this, especially for Virgil. Also Tripp and Astrid are the best friends, I loved them.

I really enjoyed this novel and found it emotionally satisfying, though not so much in its plot. It was far more character focused than I thought and it would be a five if I hadn't gone in with certain expectations.

Content Warnings

sydmarie30's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

n8userr's review against another edition

3.0

Idk about this one hmmm

Merged review:

Idk about this one hmmm

ghostboyreads's review against another edition

4.0

"It looms over me, framed by the night and the stars and moss-choked oak trees. The smell hits me first. Like a decomposing corpse. Sweet in a way that fools my brain for a fraction of a second before I realize it's rotting flesh."

Howl is a werewolf novel, but, not in the traditional way of being a werewolf novel. Howl is, at its heart, as much of a metaphorical novel as it is a creature feature. Yet, it's never overtly obvious about anything, really. In fact, it's all pretty subtle, simmering away against the backdrop of small town drama. There's something so incredibly deep and compelling about this tale, something so hauntingly beautiful about it, an iron-heavy sense of hopelessness crushes each page. The real beast of this thing is the horror of the agonizing heartache, the werewolf may terrorize the town and lurk in the shadows but, really, at its core, it's a profound and powerful novel about trauma, one that's extremely easy to love.

Howl is written and constructed in such a fantastic and lyrical manner. Hutchinson writes so very authentically, so very beautifully and with a level of empathy and elegance so rarely seen about trauma, which actually turns this novel into a grimly dark and distressing read. It's not an easy book to get through, by any means, yet it's so fabulous and so delightful that it's impossible to put down. It's one of those novels that feels so very deeply personal, it feels so real, so human. It may not be the werewolf book you're expecting when you read the blurb but, arguably, it's something so much better. Howl is, by all accounts, a breathtaking, soul-shattering story. It's absolutely harrowing, unflinching and suffocating.

"Jarret's knees pop as the joints reverse, bending backward now. He falls to the ground and cries. A hand bursts from his chest and Luca claws his way free. He's covered in blood and thick gobbets of rotting meat. His face is red, his eyes are red, his smile is white - A whimper escapes my lips as he rakes his claws across my back. As he pushes through my spine and tears out my heart. I think I'll die from the pain, but I don't. I'll live with the hurt forever."

It's a dark, deep pit of a novel, a pitch black oil slick on the blacktop, it's a bottomless void, ready to consume readers. Despite it not being the most conventional of werewolf novels, it's still every bit as visceral, as scary, as violent and terrifying as any werewolf story should be. It's just such a deeply memorable and lovable story, there's this perfect small town atmosphere that just adds to its brilliance. Trauma explorations as horror will always be one of my absolute favorite ways of engaging with this genre, and Howl navigates this tricky concept with an amazing level of compassion and depth. Howl is an obsessive downwards spiral of a book, a snarling beast with teeth so intense and inescapable.

"Hot breath soaks my neck; a clawed hand pushes my face deeper into the mud. Bristly, wiry hair brushes the back of my arms. My shoulder burns where its teeth penetrated me, and I feel its poison in my blood. "

cayeman's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tadeugt's review against another edition

5.0

Esse livro foi uma jornada. Acompanhar um garoto traumatizado obrigado a mudar de cidade e deixar a vida pra trás, se agarrando a tudo que pode e perdendo uma coisa de cada vez, e tudo parece só piorar, com um monstro à espreita. E na especialidade do Shaun, talvez os monstros sejam os traumas que fizemos pelo caminho.

"But I could still help him. I could tell him that I understood what he was going through. I could tell him that he wasn't to blame for what they did to him. I could tell him that trauma has gravity that will constantly try to tug you backward, but that if you keep moving forward, eventually its hold will weaken. Not completely, there remained moments when a noise triggered those memories. But I didn't have to be there alone."

Merged review:

Esse livro foi uma jornada. Acompanhar um garoto traumatizado obrigado a mudar de cidade e deixar a vida pra trás, se agarrando a tudo que pode e perdendo uma coisa de cada vez, e tudo parece só piorar, com um monstro à espreita. E na especialidade do Shaun, talvez os monstros sejam os traumas que fizemos pelo caminho.

"But I could still help him. I could tell him that I understood what he was going through. I could tell him that he wasn't to blame for what they did to him. I could tell him that trauma has gravity that will constantly try to tug you backward, but that if you keep moving forward, eventually its hold will weaken. Not completely, there remained moments when a noise triggered those memories. But I didn't have to be there alone."